Gennady Golovkin Poised to Become Elected International Boxing President, To Steer Boxing Towards Olympic Games in LA 2028
Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will be elected president of World Boxing and guide boxing as it heads toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the most world title defences in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. Consequently, he will take charge of World Boxing, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.
That role was previously occupied by the International Boxing Association, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in the year 2023 following a string of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his platform, the boxing veteran, whose first term runs until 2027, promised to restore trust in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic programme, beginning at the 2028 LA Olympics.
“As an amateur, I earned with pride a second-place finish at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that define Olympic boxing,” he stated. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, known for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.
“I am committed to improving oversight, guaranteeing open finances, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for athletes of all genders in all corners of the globe.”
The International Olympic Committee directly managed the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after last year’s Olympics were overshadowed by disputes about gender eligibility, it declared a need for a fresh collaborator by 2028.
In February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For the championships, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to determine the eligibility of boxers of both sexes, a step which the IOC is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
