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Ex-middleweight world titleholder Golovkin will be chosen as the head of World Boxing and guide boxing as it heads toward the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.

The boxing legend, who earned a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Games and achieved the highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. As a result, he will take charge of the boxing governing body, 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 International Olympic Committee in 2023 following a string of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.

In his platform, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose initial term runs until 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic programme, beginning at the 2028 LA Olympics.

“During my amateur career, I proudly won a second-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that characterize the sport,” he stated. “In my pro career, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.

“I am committed to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for men and women in all corners of the globe.”

The IOC directly managed the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Paris 2024 Games. Nonetheless, after last year’s Olympics were overshadowed by disputes about sex eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner in time for 2028.

In February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For that event, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to determine the eligibility of boxers of both sexes, a move that the IOC is also evaluating for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.