Golovkin Poised to Become Elected International Boxing Leader, To Steer Boxing Towards 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Ex-middleweight world titleholder Gennady Golovkin is slated to be elected president of World Boxing and lead the sport as it heads toward the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the only presidential candidate endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for the upcoming vote. As a result, he will assume leadership of World Boxing, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.
This position used to be held by the former international boxing body, but it was expelled by the International Olympic Committee in the year 2023 following a series of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose initial term runs until 2027, promised to restore trust in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, starting with the Los Angeles 2028.
“During my amateur career, I earned with pride a second-place finish at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that characterize the sport,” he stated. “In my pro career, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.
“I am committed to strengthening governance, guaranteeing open finances, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and expanding opportunities for athletes of all genders in every region of the world.”
The International Olympic Committee directly managed the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Paris 2024 Games. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were overshadowed by disputes about gender eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner by the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For that event, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of male and female athletes, a move that the IOC is also considering for LA 2028.
