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Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will be elected president of World Boxing and guide boxing as it heads toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Golovkin, who earned a silver medal in Athens in 2004 and achieved the most world title defences in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. Consequently, he will take charge of World Boxing, which became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing recently.

This position used to be held by the International Boxing Association, but it was expelled by the IOC in the year 2023 following a string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.

In his platform, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose initial term lasts through 2027, vowed 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 proudly won a second-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, representing not only Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that characterize the sport,” he stated. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, known for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.

“I am dedicated to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, advancing tech solutions to ensure impartial scoring, and expanding opportunities for athletes of all genders in every region of the world.”

The International Olympic Committee organized the boxing tournaments itself at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Paris 2024 Games. However, after the recent Games were overshadowed by rows over gender eligibility, it declared a need for a fresh collaborator in time for the 2028 Olympics.

In February, it granted recognition to the new boxing federation, which then ran the 2025 world championships in the city of Liverpool. For the championships, the organization introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a move that the IOC is also evaluating for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.