PARIS, France (AFP)—Former middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin was on Sunday elected president of World Boxing, which will run the sport at the 2028 Olympic Games.

The Kazakh was the only candidate left standing and was named president by acclamation at the annual congress in Rome.

“It is a privilege to be elected as the new president of World Boxing. But this is just the beginning,” Golovkin said in a statement.

“Starting today, athletes will be at the heart of every decision we make.

“On the road to LA28, we will restore trust in Olympic boxing to secure our place in Brisbane (host of the 2032 Olympics) beyond. Now it’s time to move forward as one united boxing family.”

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

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

Golovkin becomes 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.