Gennady Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as International Boxing President, Will Guide Boxing Toward Olympic Games in LA 2028
Ex-middleweight world titleholder Gennady Golovkin will be elected president of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it heads toward the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the most world title defences in middleweight history, is the only presidential candidate endorsed by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. As a result, he will take charge of World Boxing, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.
This position was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the IOC in 2023 following a series of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his platform, the boxing veteran, whose initial term runs until 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, starting with the Los Angeles 2028.
“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. “In my pro career, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.
“I am committed to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, developing technology to guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for athletes of all genders in all corners of the globe.”
The IOC directly managed the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the Paris 2024 Games. Nonetheless, after last year’s Olympics were marred by disputes about gender eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator by 2028.
In February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in the city of Liverpool. For the championships, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a step which the IOC is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
