Gennady Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as World Boxing President, Will Guide Sport Toward Olympic Games in LA 2028
Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is slated to be elected president of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
Golovkin, who earned a silver medal in Athens in 2004 and achieved 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. As a result, he will take charge of the boxing governing body, which became the governing body for Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.
That role used to be held 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 43-year-old Golovkin, whose initial 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.
“As an amateur, I proudly won a second-place finish at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, representing not only Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that define Olympic boxing,” he stated. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.
“I am committed to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for athletes of all genders in every region of the world.”
The IOC organized the boxing tournaments itself at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the Paris 2024 Games. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were marred by rows over sex eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator in time for 2028.
In the month of February, it granted recognition to the new boxing federation, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For the championships, the organization 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.
