Gennady Golovkin Set to Be Chosen as International Boxing President, To Steer Boxing Towards Olympic Games in LA 2028
Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is slated to be chosen as the head of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and achieved the highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president endorsed by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. Consequently, he will take charge of World Boxing, which was established as the authority for amateur Olympic boxing recently.
That role was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in 2023 following a series of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his platform, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term lasts through 2027, promised to restore trust in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic programme, starting with the 2028 LA Olympics.
“During my amateur career, I proudly won a silver medal at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “In my pro career, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.
“I am dedicated to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, developing technology to guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for men and women in every region of the world.”
The IOC organized the boxing tournaments itself at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were marred by rows over gender eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner by the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in Liverpool. For that event, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of male and female athletes, a move that the Olympic committee is also evaluating for LA 2028.
