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

Golovkin, who earned a silver medal in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the highest number of title defenses in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president endorsed 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 recently.

This position used to be held 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, vowed to rebuild confidence 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 earned with pride a second-place finish at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.

“I am committed to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, 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. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were overshadowed by rows over gender eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner in time for the 2028 Olympics.

In February, it granted recognition to World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in the city of Liverpool. For that event, the organization introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes, a step which the IOC is also evaluating for LA 2028.