Golovkin to head up new Olympic boxing body ahead of LA Games

Former world champion Gennadiy Golovkin is set to take over as president of the boxing organization aiming to run the Olympic tournaments at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Golovkin expected to run against Greek official Harilaos Mariolis for the presidency of World Boxing but the organization said Friday he'd become the only eligible candidate following a vetting process. "I have been informed that the only other candidate for the position of president ... has been declared ineligible," Golovkin said in a statement issued via a representative. "I would like to acknowledge the work of the independent vetting panel of World Boxing in helping to ensure that all elections take place in a fair and transparent manner, according to the highest standards of governance in Olympic sport." The ex-middleweight champion from Kazakhstan was widely considered the frontrunner after he headed a World Boxing delegation to rebuild ties with the International Olympic Committee, which hinted at removing boxing from the 2028 Olympic program before putting it back in the Games in March. Golovkin won an Olympic silver medal in 2004 and, after turning pro, was a long-time world champion who finished with a 42-2-1 record when he retired in 2022. World Boxing, which launched in 2023 amid a rift between the IOC and the International Boxing Association, didn't clarify why Mariolis was no longer a candidate. World Boxing is due to be involved with an Olympic tournament for the first time in 2028. The IOC took the unusual step of organizing the last two boxing tournaments itself at the Tokyo and Paris Games following its split with the IBA, which it expelled from the Olympic movement in 2023. That followed years of concerns by the IOC over IBA governance, financial transparency and the fairness of judging in Olympic bouts. IBA still runs its own competitions outside of the Olympic qualification system. That all leaves World Boxing's new president with work to do on rebuilding confidence in amateur boxing. It also faces a likely legal battle after Olympic champion Imane Khelif filed an appeal in August against a World Boxing decision barring her from upcoming events unless she undergoes genetic sex testing. "Trust is the main word in our manifesto," Golovkin told The Associated Press on Friday ahead of World Boxing's announcement, arguing his own record gave him a boxer's perspective on the issues. "Try to understand me from the perspective of an athlete, not of an investor, not of a politician or of a big businessman." Mariolis told the AP he would not comment on the decision until after Sunday's congress in Rome "out of respect for the process which is still ongoing." The Greek boxing federation, of which Mariolis was previously president, said it had no involvement in the candidacy, which it described as a "personal initiative."