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Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is slated to be chosen as the head of the global boxing federation and guide boxing as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.

The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and achieved the highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president approved by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for the upcoming vote. Consequently, he will assume leadership of the boxing governing body, which became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing recently.

This position was previously occupied by the International Boxing Association, but it was expelled by the IOC in 2023 following a string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.

In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose initial term runs until 2027, promised to restore trust in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, starting with the 2028 LA Olympics.

“As an amateur, I proudly won a silver medal at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that characterize the sport,” he wrote. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.

“I am committed to strengthening governance, ensuring financial transparency, developing technology 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 marred by disputes about sex eligibility, it declared a need for a fresh collaborator by 2028.

In the month of February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in the city of Liverpool. For that event, World Boxing introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a step which the Olympic committee is also evaluating for LA 2028.