IBF champion Gennady Golovkin rolls back the years against Ryota Murata to unify middleweight division
Gennady Golovkin (42-1-1, 37KOs) is the unified middleweight champion once again after stopping Ryota Murata (16-3, 13KOs) in nine rounds in Saitama in Japan, broadcast live on DAZN.
On April 9, the 40-year-old Kazakh added the WBA (Super) strap to his IBF title, reclaiming the belt he lost to Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in their 2018 rematch.
'Triple G' recovered from a slow start to stop 36-year-old Murata in his tracks with a counter right hand and the win puts him in pole position to fight Alvarez in a trilogy decider later this year.
Alvarez and Golovkin are yet to sign a deal for their highly anticipated third fight and the Mexican is due to move up to light-heavyweight to challenge WBA (Super) champion Dmitry Bivol on May 7. Controversy rages on over their two meetings, with many believing 'GGG' won the first fight clearly and that the second should have been a draw.
Murata, who won gold at the London 2012 Olympics, had success in the early rounds with some punishing body shots that appeared to knock the wind out of Golovkin, effectively using his sizeable height and reach advantage. Despite the fearsome fighter's 84% KO ratio, the home fighter was confident, surprisingly pushing the KO artist backwards, using combinations and variety to work the head and body.
Despite the slow start, he remained patient, falling back on his famously stiff jab, and was able to snap back the head of Murata on a few occasions. In round three, trainer Jonathon Banks instructed 'GGG' to change the rythm of the fight, but Murata continued to dominate, landing more damaging body blows.
It wasn't until the fourth round that Golovkin managed to start pushing Murata back for the first time and landing with more success.
In the fifth, Golovkin came out strongly, sensing that the tide had changed and landed some strong shots instantly. Murata gave as good as he got, but Golovkin was fired up finally and loking fearsome once again. Murata continued to work the body but Golovkin's hooks were landing with more and more venom, taking the fight out of the Japanese man, whose workrate had visibly decreased.
By the sixth round, Golovkin had finally found his rhythm, his ramrod jab bossing proceedings and setting up his power punches. By the seventh, the shots were just raining down on Ryota, who fought back in spells but was waning rapidly.
'Triple G' was able to land at will in the eighth round with very little coming back. In the ninth, Murata was hurt just seconds into the segment but was able to hold on. Another hard right hook made the Japanese champion stop in his tracks to wince under the weight of the shot. He was on borrowwed time but he bravely battled on, still throwing and even getting back on the front foot momentarily until another right hand hit home hard and the towel from Murata's corner came in.
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