Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as International Boxing President, To Steer Sport Toward Olympic Games in LA 2028
Ex-middleweight world titleholder Gennady Golovkin will be elected president of World Boxing and guide boxing as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and achieved the most world title defences in the history of the middleweight division, is the sole nominee for president endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for the upcoming vote. Consequently, he will assume leadership of the boxing governing body, which became the governing body for Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.
This position used to be held by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the IOC in 2023 following a string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his platform, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term runs until 2027, vowed to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic programme, starting with the 2028 LA Olympics.
“As an amateur, I earned with pride 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 stated. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.
“I am dedicated to strengthening governance, ensuring financial transparency, 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. Nonetheless, after last year’s Olympics were marred by rows over sex eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator in time for the 2028 Olympics.
In the month of February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For that event, the organization introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to determine the eligibility of boxers of both sexes, a move that the IOC is also evaluating for LA 2028.
