Gennady Golovkin Set to Be Chosen as World Boxing Leader, Will Guide Sport Towards 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Former world middleweight champion Golovkin will be chosen as the head of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver in the 2004 Athens Games and went on to make the most world title defences in middleweight history, is the only presidential candidate endorsed 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 this year.
That role used to be held by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in 2023 following a string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term lasts through 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic programme, beginning at the 2028 LA Olympics.
“During my amateur career, I earned with pride a second-place finish at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.
“I am dedicated to improving oversight, guaranteeing open finances, developing technology to guarantee fair judging, and expanding opportunities for men and women in all corners of the globe.”
The IOC directly managed the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nonetheless, after last year’s Olympics were overshadowed by disputes about sex eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner in time for the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For that event, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of male and female athletes, a step which the Olympic committee is also considering for LA 2028.
