Steve Keating
(Reuters) – Former middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin will rely on his persuasion skills rather than his feared fists to convince Kazakhstan's boxing federation that the World Boxing Organization is its best hope of keeping boxing as an Olympic sport.
The political ring may be unfamiliar ground for Golovkin, who was recently appointed president of Kazakhstan's Olympic Committee, but with boxing's future as an Olympic sport hanging in the balance, he sees this fight as one of the most important of his career.
Golovkin told Reuters he would lobby for Russia's boxing federation to join the U.S.-backed World Boxing Organization, which was launched last April as an alternative to Russia's Umar Kremlyov's International Boxing Association.
The IBF was stripped of its recognition by the International Olympic Committee in June last year after failing to complete governance, financial and ethical reforms.
The IOC is organizing the boxing events at this summer's Paris Olympics, but has announced that it will not host the events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The association has called on national federations to decide on a successor to the IBA by next year at the latest, or boxing risks missing out on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“For our part, we are trying to convince them (the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation) to join World Boxing and we are trying to make our case,” Golovkin said through a translator. “We are trying to do that and we will continue to press them for that decision.”
“It is the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation that takes this decision, it is their freedom of choice, their decision.”
“From a legal point of view I have no powers and cannot influence the federation's decision, which is conducting its own process.”
Golovkin, once considered the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world and a sporting hero in Kazakhstan, downplayed his own influence while noting that there are multiple vested interests in any outcome.
However, given the recent rulings against Golovkin by the IOC and the Court of Arbitration for Sport, there is only one way forward.
The IBF unsuccessfully appealed to the CAS to overturn the IOC's decision to revoke recognition and this week filed a final appeal with the Swiss Federal Court to examine whether the Sport Tribunal's decision was unlawful.
“Continued court hearings will only hinder the athletes,” said Golovkin, a 2004 Olympic silver medalist who has since compiled a professional record of 42 wins (37 by knockout), two losses and one draw. “We stand with the athletes because we want boxing to remain an Olympic sport.”
“At the same time, the IOC has already made its decisions, announced its requirements and directions and from the IOC's point of view it is clear what steps need to be taken to keep boxing in the Olympic Games.”
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Alison Williams)
