Gennady Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as International Boxing President, To Steer Sport Toward 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Former world middleweight champion Golovkin will be elected president of World Boxing and lead the sport as it heads toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
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 endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for the upcoming vote. As a result, he will assume leadership of World Boxing, which became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing this year.
That role used to be held by the former international boxing body, but it was expelled by the IOC in 2023 following a string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his manifesto, the boxing veteran, whose first term lasts through 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, beginning at the 2028 LA Olympics.
“During my amateur career, I earned with pride a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that characterize the sport,” he wrote. “In my pro career, I won numerous world titles, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.
“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 every region of the world.”
The IOC directly managed the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after last year’s Olympics were overshadowed by rows over sex eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator 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 that event, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes, a step which the IOC is also evaluating for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
