Gennady Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as World Boxing President, To Steer Sport Toward 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Former world middleweight champion Golovkin will be chosen as the head of the global boxing federation and lead the sport as it heads toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Golovkin, who earned a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Games and achieved the highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the only presidential candidate endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for the upcoming vote. Consequently, he will take charge of the boxing governing body, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing recently.
That role 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 controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his manifesto, the boxing veteran, whose initial term lasts through 2027, vowed to restore trust in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, beginning at the Los Angeles 2028.
“As an amateur, I earned with pride a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that define Olympic boxing,” he stated. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.
“I am dedicated to improving oversight, guaranteeing open finances, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and expanding opportunities for men and women in every region of the world.”
The International Olympic Committee directly managed the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the Paris 2024 Games. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were overshadowed by rows over gender eligibility, it said it needed a new partner in time for 2028.
In the month of February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For that event, the organization introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a move that the Olympic committee is also evaluating for LA 2028.
