Golovkin Set to Be Chosen as International Boxing Leader, Will Guide Boxing Towards 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Former world middleweight champion Golovkin will be elected president of World Boxing and lead the sport as it heads toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The boxing legend, who earned a silver medal in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the highest number of title defenses in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. As a result, he will take charge of the boxing governing body, which became the governing body for Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.
That role was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in 2023 following a series of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his platform, the boxing veteran, whose initial term runs until 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic lineup, starting with the 2028 LA Olympics.
“As an amateur, I earned with pride a silver medal at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that define Olympic boxing,” he stated. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.
“I am dedicated to strengthening governance, ensuring financial transparency, advancing tech solutions to ensure impartial scoring, and creating more chances for men and women in all corners of the globe.”
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 disputes about gender eligibility, it said it needed a new partner in time for the 2028 Olympics.
In the month of February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in Liverpool. For that event, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes, a move that the IOC is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
