Gennady Golovkin Poised to Become Elected World Boxing President, Will Guide Sport Towards Olympic Games in LA 2028
Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will be chosen as the head of World Boxing and lead the sport as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
The boxing legend, who earned a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Games and achieved the highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. As a result, he will take charge of the boxing governing body, which became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing this year.
That role was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was expelled 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 lasts through 2027, vowed to restore trust in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, starting with the Los Angeles 2028.
“As an amateur, I proudly won a silver medal at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that characterize the sport,” he wrote. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, known for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.
“I am dedicated to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, developing technology to ensure impartial scoring, and creating more chances for men and women in every region of the world.”
The IOC organized the boxing tournaments itself at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the Paris 2024 Games. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were overshadowed by rows over sex eligibility, it said it needed a new partner in time for the 2028 Olympics.
In the month of February, it granted recognition to World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in the city of Liverpool. For the championships, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a move that the IOC is also considering for LA 2028.
