Golovkin Set to Be Elected International Boxing President, To Steer Sport Toward Olympic Games in LA 2028
Ex-middleweight world titleholder Gennady Golovkin will be elected president of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it prepares for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the highest number of title defenses in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. As a result, he will take charge of World Boxing, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing recently.
This position was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in 2023 following a series of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his platform, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term runs until 2027, vowed to rebuild confidence in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic programme, beginning at the 2028 LA Olympics.
“During my amateur career, I earned with pride a silver medal at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.
“I am dedicated to strengthening governance, ensuring financial transparency, developing technology to ensure impartial scoring, and expanding opportunities for athletes of all genders in every region of the world.”
The IOC directly managed the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the Paris 2024 Games. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were overshadowed by disputes about gender eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator in time for 2028.
In February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in Liverpool. For the championships, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of male and female athletes, a step which the Olympic committee is also evaluating for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
