Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as International Boxing President, To Steer Sport Toward Olympic Games in LA 2028
Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will be elected president of the global boxing federation and lead the sport as it heads toward the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
Golovkin, who earned a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Games and achieved the highest number of title defenses in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. As a result, he will take charge of the boxing governing body, which was established as the authority for amateur Olympic boxing recently.
That role used to be held by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in the year 2023 following a series of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his manifesto, the boxing veteran, whose first 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 Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “In my pro career, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, known for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.
“I am dedicated to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, developing technology to ensure impartial scoring, and creating more chances 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 Paris 2024 Games. However, 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 February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then ran the 2025 world championships in the city of Liverpool. For the championships, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of male and female athletes, a step which the IOC is also considering for LA 2028.
