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Ex-middleweight world titleholder Golovkin is slated to be elected president of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it prepares for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in the 2004 Athens Games and achieved the most world title defences in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for the upcoming vote. As a result, he will assume leadership of World Boxing, which was established as the authority for amateur Olympic boxing recently.

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

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

“As an amateur, I proudly won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that define Olympic boxing,” he stated. “In my pro career, I won numerous world titles, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.

“I am dedicated to improving oversight, guaranteeing open finances, developing technology to guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for athletes of all genders in every region of the world.”

The International Olympic Committee directly managed the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after last year’s Olympics were overshadowed by disputes about gender eligibility, it declared a need for a fresh collaborator by 2028.

In February, it granted recognition to World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships 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 step which the Olympic committee is also evaluating for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.