Golovkin Poised to Become Chosen as International Boxing Leader, To Steer Boxing Towards 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Former world middleweight champion 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.
Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and achieved the most world title defences in the history of the middleweight division, is the sole nominee for president approved by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. As a result, he will take charge of the boxing governing body, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing recently.
That role used to be held by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the IOC in the year 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 programme, starting with the Los Angeles 2028.
“As an amateur, I earned with pride a second-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that characterize the sport,” he wrote. “In my pro career, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.
“I am dedicated to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and expanding opportunities for athletes of all genders in every region of the world.”
The IOC organized the boxing tournaments itself at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were marred by disputes about gender eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator by the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it granted recognition to the new boxing federation, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in the city of Liverpool. For that event, World Boxing introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to assess qualification of male and female athletes, a move that the IOC is also evaluating for LA 2028.
