🔗 Share this article

Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is slated to be elected president of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it heads toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in the 2004 Athens Games and went on to make the most world title defences in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president 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 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 string of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.

In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term lasts through 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic programme, beginning at the 2028 LA Olympics.

“As an amateur, I proudly won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that characterize the sport,” he wrote. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my integrity, respect, and commitment to fair play.

“I am committed to improving oversight, guaranteeing open finances, advancing tech solutions to ensure impartial scoring, and expanding opportunities for athletes of all genders in all corners of the globe.”

The International Olympic Committee directly managed the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Paris 2024 Games. However, after last year’s Olympics were overshadowed by disputes about sex eligibility, it declared a need for a fresh collaborator in time for 2028.

In February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then ran the 2025 world championships in the city of Liverpool. For the championships, World Boxing introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes, a move that the IOC is also considering for LA 2028.