Gennady Golovkin Set to Be Elected World Boxing President, To Steer Boxing Toward 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will be elected president 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 highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for the upcoming vote. Consequently, he will take charge of World Boxing, which became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing recently.
This position was previously occupied by the International Boxing Association, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in the year 2023 following a series of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his platform, the boxing veteran, whose first term runs until 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic lineup, beginning at the Los Angeles 2028.
“As an amateur, I earned with pride a silver medal at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that characterize the sport,” he wrote. “In my pro career, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.
“I am committed to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, advancing tech solutions to ensure impartial scoring, and expanding opportunities for men and women in all corners of the globe.”
The IOC directly managed the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after the recent Games were marred by rows over sex eligibility, it said it needed a new partner in time for the 2028 Olympics.
In the month of February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in the city of Liverpool. For that event, World Boxing introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes, a move that the Olympic committee is also evaluating for LA 2028.
