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

Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and achieved the highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for the upcoming vote. As a result, he will take charge of World Boxing, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.

This position was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the IOC in 2023 following a string 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 ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic programme, beginning at the 2028 LA Olympics.

“During my amateur career, I proudly won a second-place finish at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that characterize the sport,” he stated. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, known for my integrity, respect, and commitment to fair play.

“I am committed to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, developing technology to guarantee fair judging, and expanding opportunities for men and women in all corners of the globe.”

The IOC directly managed the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the Paris 2024 Games. However, after last year’s Olympics were marred by rows over sex 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 Liverpool. For the championships, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a step which the Olympic committee is also considering for LA 2028.