Gennady Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as World Boxing President, To Steer Boxing Towards 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Ex-middleweight world titleholder Golovkin will be elected president of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it heads toward the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
Golovkin, 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 only presidential candidate endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for the upcoming vote. Consequently, he will assume leadership of World Boxing, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing recently.
That role was previously occupied by the International Boxing Association, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in 2023 following a string of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his manifesto, the boxing veteran, whose first term runs until 2027, vowed to rebuild confidence in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, beginning at the 2028 LA Olympics.
“During my amateur career, I proudly won a second-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, 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, recognized for my integrity, respect, and commitment to fair play.
“I am dedicated to strengthening governance, guaranteeing open finances, advancing tech solutions to ensure impartial scoring, and expanding opportunities for athletes of all genders in every region of the world.”
The International Olympic Committee directly managed the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after last year’s Olympics were marred by rows over gender eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator in time for the 2028 Olympics.
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 implemented compulsory gender verification, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes, a move that the Olympic committee is also evaluating for LA 2028.
