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Ex-middleweight world titleholder Golovkin will be chosen as the head of the global boxing federation and lead the sport as it heads toward the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.

The boxing legend, 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 only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. As a result, he will take charge of the boxing governing body, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing recently.

That role used to be held by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the IOC in 2023 following a string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.

In his platform, the boxing veteran, whose first term lasts through 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and secure boxing’s long-term place in the Olympic lineup, starting with the Los Angeles 2028.

“During my amateur career, I proudly won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.

“I am committed to strengthening governance, ensuring financial transparency, advancing tech solutions 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. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were overshadowed by disputes about gender eligibility, it declared a need for a fresh collaborator in time for the 2028 Olympics.

In February, it granted recognition to World Boxing, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in the city of Liverpool. For that event, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to determine the eligibility of boxers of both sexes, a step which the Olympic committee is also evaluating for LA 2028.