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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 Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in the 2004 Athens Games 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 became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing recently.

That role was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in the year 2023 following a series of judging, corruption and governance scandals.

In his platform, the boxing veteran, whose initial 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 Los Angeles 2028.

“During my amateur career, I proudly won a second-place finish at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, representing not only Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that characterize the sport,” he stated. “In my pro career, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.

“I am dedicated to strengthening governance, guaranteeing open finances, developing technology to ensure impartial scoring, and creating more chances for men and women in every region of the world.”

The International Olympic Committee organized the boxing tournaments itself at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, after the recent Games were overshadowed by disputes about gender eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner in time for the 2028 Olympics.

In the month of February, it granted recognition to World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in the city of Liverpool. For the championships, the organization introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to determine the eligibility of boxers of both sexes, a step which the Olympic committee is also evaluating for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.