Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as World Boxing President, To Steer Sport Towards Olympic Games in LA 2028
Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will be chosen as the head of World Boxing and lead the sport as it heads toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and achieved the highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. Consequently, he will assume leadership 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 expelled by the IOC in the year 2023 following a string of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his manifesto, the boxing veteran, whose first term runs until 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic programme, starting with the Los Angeles 2028.
“During my amateur career, I proudly won a silver medal at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, representing not only Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that define Olympic boxing,” he stated. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, known for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.
“I am dedicated to improving oversight, guaranteeing open finances, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, 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 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nonetheless, after last year’s Olympics were overshadowed by disputes about sex eligibility, it said it needed a new partner by 2028.
In the month of February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in the city of Liverpool. For that event, the organization introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes, a move that the IOC is also evaluating for LA 2028.
