Golovkin Set to Be Chosen as World Boxing President, To Steer Sport Towards Olympic Games in LA 2028
Ex-middleweight world titleholder Golovkin is slated to be elected president of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it prepares for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The boxing legend, who earned a silver medal in Athens in 2004 and achieved the most world title defences in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate approved 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.
This position used to be held by the International Boxing Association, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in the year 2023 following a string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his manifesto, the boxing veteran, whose first term runs until 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic programme, beginning at the Los Angeles 2028.
“As an amateur, I proudly won a second-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that characterize the sport,” he wrote. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.
“I am committed to strengthening governance, guaranteeing open finances, advancing tech solutions to ensure impartial scoring, and creating more chances for men and women 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. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were marred by disputes about gender eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator in time for the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then ran the 2025 world championships in the city of Liverpool. For that event, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to determine the eligibility of boxers of both sexes, a move that the IOC is also evaluating for LA 2028.
