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Former world middleweight champion Golovkin will be elected president of World Boxing and lead the sport as it heads toward the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.

Golovkin, who earned a silver medal in Athens in 2004 and achieved the highest number of title defenses in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate endorsed by the sport’s independent vetting panel for the upcoming vote. Consequently, he will take charge of the boxing governing body, which was established as the authority for amateur Olympic boxing recently.

This position was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was expelled by the International Olympic Committee in 2023 following a string of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.

In his manifesto, the boxing veteran, whose initial term runs until 2027, vowed to restore trust in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, beginning at the Los Angeles 2028.

“As an amateur, I earned with pride a second-place finish at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “In my pro career, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.

“I am dedicated to strengthening governance, ensuring financial transparency, developing technology to ensure impartial scoring, and creating more chances for athletes of all genders in all corners of the globe.”

The IOC directly managed the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after last year’s Olympics were marred by rows over gender eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner in time for the 2028 Olympics.

In the month of February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For that event, World Boxing introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes, a step which the Olympic committee is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.