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Ex-middleweight world titleholder Golovkin is slated to be elected president of World Boxing and guide boxing as it heads toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the most world title defences in the history of the middleweight division, is the sole nominee for president endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for the upcoming vote. Consequently, he will take charge of World Boxing, which became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing recently.

This position was previously occupied by the International Boxing Association, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in the year 2023 following a series of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.

In his platform, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term lasts through 2027, vowed to rebuild confidence in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic programme, starting with the 2028 LA Olympics.

“During my amateur career, I proudly won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.

“I am committed to strengthening governance, ensuring financial transparency, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for men and women in every region of the world.”

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

In February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in the city of Liverpool. For that event, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a move that the Olympic committee is also evaluating for LA 2028.