🔗 Share this article

Ex-middleweight world titleholder Gennady Golovkin is slated to be chosen as the head of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it prepares for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver in the 2004 Athens Games and achieved the highest number of title defenses in the history of the middleweight division, is the sole nominee for president approved by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. Consequently, he will assume leadership of the boxing governing body, which became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing recently.

That role used to be held by the International Boxing Association, but it was expelled by the International Olympic Committee in the year 2023 following a series of judging, corruption and governance scandals.

In his platform, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term runs until 2027, promised to restore trust in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic programme, starting with the Los Angeles 2028.

“During my amateur career, I proudly won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, representing not only Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that characterize the sport,” he stated. “In my pro career, 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 guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for men and women in every region of the world.”

The IOC organized the boxing tournaments itself at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Paris 2024 Games. However, after last year’s Olympics were marred by disputes about gender eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner in time for 2028.

In February, it granted recognition to World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For the championships, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a step which the IOC is also evaluating for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.