Golovkin Set to Be Chosen as International Boxing President, To Steer Sport Towards Olympic Games in LA 2028
Former world middleweight champion Golovkin will be elected president of World Boxing and lead the sport as it prepares for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and achieved the most world title defences in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. Consequently, he will take charge of World Boxing, which was established as the authority for amateur Olympic boxing this year.
This position was previously occupied by the International Boxing Association, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in 2023 following a series of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his platform, the boxing veteran, whose first term lasts through 2027, promised to restore trust 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 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 wrote. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.
“I am committed to strengthening governance, ensuring financial transparency, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for men and women in all corners of the globe.”
The International Olympic Committee organized the boxing tournaments itself at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after the recent Games were marred by disputes about sex eligibility, it declared a need for a fresh collaborator by 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 that event, the organization introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a step which the IOC is also evaluating for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
