Golovkin Set to Be Chosen as World Boxing Leader, To Steer Sport Toward 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will be chosen as the head of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in the 2004 Athens Games and achieved the most world title defences in middleweight history, is the only presidential candidate endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. Consequently, he will assume leadership of World Boxing, which became the governing body for Olympic-style amateur 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 boxing veteran, whose initial term runs until 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic programme, starting with the Los Angeles 2028.
“As an amateur, I proudly won a second-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that characterize the sport,” he stated. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.
“I am committed to strengthening governance, 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 International Olympic Committee directly managed the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were marred by disputes about gender eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator by the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it granted recognition to the new boxing federation, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in Liverpool. For the championships, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a move that the Olympic committee is also evaluating for LA 2028.
