Gennady Golovkin Poised to Become Elected International Boxing President, Will Guide Sport Towards 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Former world middleweight champion Golovkin is slated to be chosen as the head of World Boxing and guide boxing as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver in the 2004 Athens Games and achieved the most world title defences in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. Consequently, he will assume leadership of World Boxing, which became the governing body for Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.
This position used to be held by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the IOC in 2023 following a series of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term runs until 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, beginning at the Los Angeles 2028.
“As an amateur, I earned with pride a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that define Olympic boxing,” he stated. “In my pro career, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.
“I am committed to strengthening governance, guaranteeing open finances, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and expanding opportunities for men and women in all corners of the globe.”
The International Olympic Committee organized the boxing tournaments itself at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after last year’s Olympics were overshadowed by disputes about sex eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner by the 2028 Olympics.
In the month of February, it granted recognition to the new boxing federation, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For the championships, the organization introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a move that the IOC is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
