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

The boxing legend, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the most world title defences in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate endorsed by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. Consequently, he will assume leadership of World Boxing, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.

This position was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was expelled by the International Olympic Committee in 2023 following a series of judging, corruption and governance scandals.

In his manifesto, the boxing veteran, whose initial term lasts through 2027, vowed to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic programme, starting with the Los Angeles 2028.

“During my amateur career, I proudly won a silver medal 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 became a multiple-time unified world champion, known for my integrity, respect, and commitment to fair play.

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

The IOC organized the boxing tournaments itself at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the Paris 2024 Games. Nonetheless, after last year’s Olympics were marred by disputes about gender eligibility, it declared a need for a fresh collaborator in time for the 2028 Olympics.

In February, it officially recognized the new boxing federation, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in Liverpool. For that event, the organization introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to assess qualification of boxers of both sexes, a step which the Olympic committee is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.