WORLD BOXING will this month announce the candidates to replace Boris van der Vorst as their president.
The Dutchman announced after the World Championships concluded in Liverpool last month that he will not be seeking re-election.
Van der Vorst had been a driving force behind keeping boxing in the Olympic programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Games after it was initially left off by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
His work was recognised when he was placed among the 50 most powerful figures in the sport by Boxing News in August.
Van der Vorst has decided against going for re-election ahead of World Boxing’s Congress in Rome on November 23.
During the Congress, members who are eligible to vote will choose the new president.
Candidates had to put themselves forward 90 days before the Congress and that was followed by a vetting process.
The credentials of every applicant will be assessed and the names of the candidates for the role are set to be released no later than 30 days before the meeting.
There has been speculation that Gennady Golovkin could be among those bidding for the seat.
The former world middleweight champion was named Chairman of the Olympic Committee last September and was at the World Championships in Liverpool at the M&S Bank Arena, where his native Kazakhstan finished on top of the medal table with seven golds, two silvers and a bronze.
Golovkin is also the President of Kazakhstan’s National Olympic Committee.
He won middleweight silver for his country at the 2004 Athens Olympics – and a former Olympic champion is another who has been mooted as a possible contender.
Wladimir Klitschko won super-heavyweight gold in 1996 and is also rumoured to be interested in the position.
The Ukrainian, who is in the record books for having the most world heavyweight title fights (29), was vocal in his support of van der Vorst last year and has been named as a possible contender to replace the Dutchman, along with Greek Boxing Federation President Haris Mariolis.
Whoever is voted in takes over a federation that van der Vorst helped build.
The current membership of World Boxing includes more than 120 national federations from all five continents and they have established a calendar of global events, including the World Boxing Cup that heads to India next month.
In March, World Boxing achieved its primary goal when the IOC announced boxing would remain on the programme for the 2028 games in Los Angeles.
Van der Vorst had previously stood against IBA President Umar Kremlev after the IOC banned them from running Olympic boxing events.
Van der Vorst was in Paris for last summer’s Olympics – organised by the IOC and Paris Boxing Unit – that was dogged by a gender row that made global headlines, but World Boxing events have been free of such controversy and the scoring rows that dogged the 2016 Rio Olympics and led to an investigation.
World Boxing was formed in April 2023 with the main objective being to “keep boxing at the heart of the Olympic movement” and van der Vorst was voted in as their first president seven months later.
Van der Vorst said the workload involved in the role was “relentless” after announcing his decision to step down.
He said: “After years of global travel and the daily demands of building World Boxing from the ground up to meet the requirements of the IOC and other stakeholders, I have concluded that I will not commit to another term as president.”
