Gennady Golovkin Set to Be Elected International Boxing Leader, To Steer Sport Towards 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is slated to 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 went on to make the most world title defences in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president approved by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. As a result, he will assume leadership of World Boxing, which became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing recently.
That role used to be held by the former international boxing body, but it was expelled by the IOC in 2023 following a string of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his platform, the boxing veteran, whose initial term runs until 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic lineup, beginning at the 2028 LA Olympics.
“As an amateur, I proudly won a silver medal 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 became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.
“I am committed to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, developing technology to ensure impartial scoring, and expanding opportunities for athletes of all genders in all corners of the globe.”
The IOC organized the boxing tournaments itself at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Paris 2024 Games. Nonetheless, after last year’s Olympics were marred by rows over sex eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator in time for the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in the city of Liverpool. For the championships, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes, a move that the IOC is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
