Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as World Boxing President, To Steer Sport Toward Olympic Games in LA 2028
Former world middleweight champion Golovkin will be elected president of the global boxing federation and lead the sport as it prepares for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in the 2004 Athens Games and went on to make 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 Sunday’s election. As a result, he will take charge of the boxing governing body, which became the governing body 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 string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term runs until 2027, vowed to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic programme, beginning at the Los Angeles 2028.
“During my amateur career, I earned with pride 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 wrote. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, known for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.
“I am committed to strengthening governance, guaranteeing open finances, developing technology to ensure impartial scoring, and expanding opportunities for men and women in every region of the world.”
The International Olympic Committee organized the boxing tournaments itself at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were marred by disputes about gender eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner 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, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a step which the Olympic committee is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
