WBC/WBA/IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan sits behind his belts during a news conference at MGM Grand hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. September 13, 2017. REUTERS/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus
(Reuters) -Kazakhstan’s Gennady Golovkin will run as a candidate in the election for President of World Boxing, the former middleweight world champion said in a statement on Friday.
Golovkin, once considered the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world and winner of a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, was appointed president of Kazakhstan’s National Olympic Committee in 2024.
He will run against Mariolis Charilaos, who was President of the Hellenic Boxing Federation from 2021 to 2025.
Current World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst said in September that he would not seek re-election, citing the relentless demands of leading the breakaway organisation and years of global travel as his reasons for stepping down.
World Boxing, established in 2023, has replaced the Russian-led International Boxing Association as the sport’s global governing body after the IBA was stripped of recognition.
The new organisation faces the task of safeguarding boxing’s Olympic future following the 2024 Paris Games.
"Our mission for 2026 is clear: to achieve full IOC recognition and to guarantee our place in Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032," Golovkin said in a statement.
The 43-year-old, who retired from the ring three years ago, had a record of 345 wins from 350 fights as an amateur boxer before winning multiple middleweight world titles.
The vote for a new President will take place on November 23 during the World Boxing Congress in Rome, Italy.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Ken Ferris)
