Gennady Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as International Boxing President, To Steer Boxing Towards 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

Ex-middleweight world titleholder Golovkin will be chosen as the head of the global boxing federation and lead the sport as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.

The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver in the 2004 Athens Games and went on to make the highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president approved by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. Consequently, he will assume leadership of the boxing governing body, which became the governing body for Olympic-style amateur boxing recently.

This position used to be held by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the IOC in 2023 following a string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.

In his platform, the boxing veteran, whose first term runs until 2027, promised to restore trust in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic lineup, beginning at 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 define Olympic boxing,” 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 ensure impartial scoring, and expanding opportunities for men and women in all corners of the globe.”

The IOC organized the boxing tournaments itself at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nonetheless, after last year’s Olympics were marred by rows over sex eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner in time for 2028.

In the month of February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament 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 evaluating for LA 2028.