Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is slated to be elected president of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it heads toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Golovkin, who earned a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Games 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. As a result, he will assume leadership of the boxing governing body, which became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing this year.
This position was previously occupied by the International Boxing Association, but it was expelled by the IOC in 2023 following a string of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose initial term lasts through 2027, vowed to rebuild confidence 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 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. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.
“I am dedicated to improving oversight, guaranteeing open finances, developing technology to guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for men and women 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. However, after the recent Games were marred by rows over gender eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator in time for 2028.
In February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in the city of Liverpool. For that event, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a move that the Olympic committee is also evaluating for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
