Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as World Boxing President, To Steer Sport Toward Olympic Games in LA 2028
Former world middleweight champion 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 achieved the highest number of title defenses in the history of the middleweight division, is the sole nominee for president endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee 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 International Boxing Association, but it was banished by the IOC in 2023 following a series of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.
In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term runs until 2027, vowed to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic lineup, starting with the Los Angeles 2028.
“As an amateur, I proudly won a second-place finish at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that characterize the sport,” he stated. “In my pro career, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.
“I am dedicated to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, developing technology 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 last year’s Olympics were marred by rows over sex eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner in time for the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it granted recognition to World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For the championships, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a move that the IOC is also considering for LA 2028.
