Gennady Golovkin Set to Be Chosen as World Boxing Leader, To Steer Sport Toward Olympic Games in LA 2028
Ex-middleweight world titleholder Gennady Golovkin is slated to be elected president of World Boxing and lead the sport as it heads toward the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
The boxing legend, who earned a silver medal in Athens in 2004 and achieved the highest number of title defenses in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for the upcoming vote. As a result, he will assume leadership of the boxing governing body, which was established as the authority for amateur Olympic boxing recently.
That role was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was expelled by the IOC in the year 2023 following a series of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose initial term runs until 2027, promised 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 2004 Athens Olympics, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, known for my integrity, respect, and commitment to fair play.
“I am committed to strengthening governance, ensuring financial transparency, developing technology to ensure impartial scoring, and expanding opportunities for athletes of all genders in all corners of the globe.”
The International Olympic Committee directly managed the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nonetheless, after last year’s Olympics were marred by disputes about sex eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator by the 2028 Olympics.
In the month of February, it granted recognition to the new boxing federation, which then ran the 2025 world championships in the city of Liverpool. For that event, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of male and female athletes, a move that the Olympic committee is also considering for LA 2028.
