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

Golovkin, who earned a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Games and went on to make the most world title defences in the history of the middleweight division, 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 World Boxing, which was established as the authority for amateur Olympic boxing this year.

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

In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term runs until 2027, promised to restore trust in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, beginning at 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 principles of integrity and hard work that characterize the sport,” he stated. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my integrity, respect, and commitment to clean competition.

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

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

In the month of February, it officially recognized World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For the championships, World Boxing introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to determine the eligibility of boxers of both sexes, a move that the Olympic committee is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.