Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as World Boxing President, Will Guide Sport 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 Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The boxing legend, who earned a silver medal in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president endorsed by the sport’s independent vetting panel for the upcoming vote. As a result, he will assume leadership of the boxing governing body, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing recently.
That role was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the IOC in 2023 following a series of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term runs until 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic lineup, starting with the Los Angeles 2028.
“As an amateur, I proudly won a second-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that define Olympic boxing,” he stated. “In my pro career, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.
“I am dedicated to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, developing technology to ensure impartial scoring, and creating more chances for athletes of all genders in every region of the world.”
The International Olympic Committee directly managed the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after the recent Games were marred by disputes about sex eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator in time for 2028.
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 introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to determine the eligibility of boxers of both sexes, a move that the IOC is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.