Gennady Golovkin Poised to Become Elected World Boxing Leader, Will Guide Sport Toward Olympic Games in LA 2028
Former world middleweight champion Golovkin will be chosen as the head of World Boxing and lead the sport as it heads toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the most world title defences in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for the upcoming vote. Consequently, he will take charge of World Boxing, which became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing this year.
That role used to be held by the former international boxing body, but it was expelled by the IOC in 2023 following a string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose initial term lasts through 2027, promised to restore trust in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, starting with the Los Angeles 2028.
“As an amateur, I earned with pride a second-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that characterize the sport,” he wrote. “In my pro career, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my integrity, respect, and commitment to fair play.
“I am committed to improving oversight, guaranteeing open finances, developing technology to guarantee fair judging, and expanding opportunities for men and women in all corners of the globe.”
The International Olympic Committee organized the boxing tournaments itself at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nonetheless, after last year’s Olympics were overshadowed by disputes about sex eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator by 2028.
In February, it granted recognition to the new boxing federation, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in the city of Liverpool. For that event, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of male and female athletes, a move that the IOC is also evaluating for LA 2028.
