Golovkin Set to Be Chosen as International Boxing President, Will Guide Sport Towards 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will be elected president of World Boxing and guide boxing as it prepares for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Golovkin, who earned a silver medal 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. As a result, he will assume leadership of World Boxing, which became the governing body for Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.
That role was previously occupied by the International Boxing Association, but it was banished by the IOC in 2023 following a series of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his platform, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose initial term runs until 2027, vowed to restore trust in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic lineup, beginning at the 2028 LA Olympics.
“During my amateur career, I earned with pride a second-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that define Olympic boxing,” he stated. “In my pro career, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.
“I am dedicated to strengthening governance, guaranteeing open finances, advancing tech solutions to ensure impartial scoring, and expanding opportunities for men and women in all corners of the globe.”
The International Olympic Committee organized the boxing tournaments itself at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after last year’s Olympics were overshadowed by rows over gender eligibility, it said it needed a new partner by the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For the championships, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a move that the IOC is also evaluating for LA 2028.
