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

The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver 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 assume leadership of the boxing governing body, which became the governing body for Olympic-style amateur boxing recently.

That role was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the IOC in the year 2023 following a string of controversies involving judging, corruption, and management.

In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term runs until 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic lineup, beginning at the 2028 LA Olympics.

“As an amateur, I earned with pride a second-place finish at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “In my pro career, I won numerous world titles, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.

“I am dedicated to improving oversight, guaranteeing open finances, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for athletes of all genders in every region of the world.”

The International Olympic Committee directly managed the boxing events at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nonetheless, after last year’s Olympics were marred by rows over sex eligibility, it said it needed a new partner in time for the 2028 Olympics.

In February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament 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 the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.