Gennady Golovkin only candidate left standing for World Boxing presidency

World Boxing, which will run the sport at the 2028 Olympic Games, announced that former world champion Gennady Golovkin is the only candidate left standing for Sunday's presidential election.

World Boxing, which is holding its annual congress in Rome, said in a statement on Saturday that following the "conclusions" of an "Independent Vetting Panel", "there is now one candidate for the office of President, Gennady Golovkin from Kazakhstan". 

The 43-year-old was twice unified world middleweight champion. He also won silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Golovkin will become president of World Boxing less than a month after another former candidate for 'best pound-for-pound fighter' in the world, Manny Pacquiao, became a vice president of the rival International Boxing Association (IBA).

After repeated warnings over financial governance and ethical concerns, the International Olympic Committee severed links with IBA and its Russian president Umar Kremlev ahead of the Tokyo Games in 2021.

The IOC ran boxing in Tokyo and Paris while it debated the sport's future at the Games. World Boxing, created in 2023, is taking over organising the sport at Los Angeles in 2028. 

When announcing his candidacy, Golovkin emphasised his intention to secure the future of boxing at the Olympics and to obtain "full recognition from the International Olympic Committee".

Golovkin will succeed Dutchman Boris van der Vorst, who was elected in 2023 but decided not to stand for re-election.