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Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is slated to be elected president of World Boxing and lead the sport as it prepares for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver in the 2004 Athens Games and achieved the most world title defences in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president endorsed by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. 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 banished by the IOC in 2023 following a string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.

In his platform, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term lasts through 2027, vowed to restore trust in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic programme, starting with the 2028 LA Olympics.

“As an amateur, I proudly won a second-place finish at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing 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, known for my integrity, respect, and commitment to fair play.

“I am committed to strengthening governance, guaranteeing open finances, developing technology to guarantee fair judging, and expanding opportunities for men and women in every region of the world.”

The IOC directly managed the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the Paris 2024 Games. However, after last year’s Olympics were marred by disputes about sex eligibility, it said it needed 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 assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a step which the IOC is also considering for LA 2028.