Golovkin Poised to Become Elected International Boxing President, Will Guide Sport Towards 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Ex-middleweight world titleholder Gennady 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 the 2004 Athens Games and went on to make the highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. Consequently, he will take charge of the boxing governing body, which was established as the authority for amateur Olympic boxing this year.
This position used to be held by the International Boxing Association, but it was banished by the IOC in 2023 following a string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term lasts through 2027, vowed 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 silver medal at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.
“I am dedicated to strengthening governance, ensuring financial transparency, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and expanding opportunities for men and women in all corners of the globe.”
The IOC organized the boxing tournaments itself at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after last year’s Olympics were marred by disputes about sex eligibility, it said it needed a new partner by 2028.
In the month of February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in the city of Liverpool. For the championships, World Boxing introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a move that the IOC is also evaluating for LA 2028.
