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Former world middleweight champion Golovkin is slated to be elected president of World Boxing and guide boxing as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.

Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the highest number of title defenses in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. 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 expelled by the IOC in 2023 following a string of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.

In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose initial term runs until 2027, vowed 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 earned with pride a second-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that characterize the sport,” he wrote. “In my pro career, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my integrity, respect, and commitment to fair play.

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

The IOC directly managed the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after the recent Games were overshadowed by disputes about gender eligibility, it declared a need for a fresh collaborator by the 2028 Olympics.

In February, it granted recognition to World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in the city of Liverpool. For the championships, World Boxing introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a move that the IOC is also considering for LA 2028.