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

Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and achieved the highest number of title defenses in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate endorsed 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 Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.

That role used to be held by the former international boxing body, but it was expelled by the IOC in the year 2023 following a series of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.

In his platform, the boxing veteran, whose first term runs until 2027, vowed to rebuild confidence in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, beginning at the Los Angeles 2028.

“As an amateur, I proudly won a silver medal at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that characterize the sport,” he stated. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.

“I am committed to strengthening governance, guaranteeing open finances, developing technology to ensure impartial scoring, and expanding opportunities for athletes of all genders in all corners of the globe.”

The IOC organized the boxing tournaments itself 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 new partner 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 implemented compulsory gender verification, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes, a step which the IOC is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.