GGG makes triumphant return, stops Murata in 9th round to unify middleweight titles
Exciting victory propels Golovkin into third fight against Canelo, as long as he defeats Bivol on May 7
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Gennadiy Golovkin turned 40 on Friday and while it is clear he has slowed at least a little bit, he still carries the hurtful punching power that made him one of boxing’s most feared fighters of recent decades.
Golovkin got off to a bit of a slow start but eventually battered and dropped Ryota Murata in an exciting ninth-round knockout victory to unify the IBF and WBA middleweight titles on Saturday on DAZN at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, just outside of Murata’s hometown of Tokyo.
It was GGG’s first fight in 15 months and Murata’s first in 28 months — the bout had been scheduled for Dec. 29 but postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions in Japan — but it took GGG longer to get into a groove. But by the time it was over, Golovkin, boxing’s oldest active male titleholder, had won the all-action fight convincingly and joined Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins as the only fighters to unify titles over age 40. Hopkins was 49 when he outpointed Beibut Shumenov to unify the IBF and WBA light heavyweight belts in 2014.
Golovkin’s resounding victory over Murata, whom he had briefly sparred with years ago, also set him up for a long-anticipated trilogy fight with bitter rival Canelo Alvarez, the pound-for-pound king and undisputed super middleweight champion. They have a deal in place to meet in September for Alvarez’s titles, but Mexico’s Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs), who is 1-0-1 against Golovkin with both decisions being highly controversial, must do his part by defeating light heavyweight titleholder Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs), of Russia, on May 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Early on, Murata, who became a national hero in Japan after winning a 2012 Olympic gold medal, looked like he might be able to upset Golovkin’s best laid plans. He gave Golovkin plenty of trouble for the first five-plus rounds.
Murata often beat GGG to the punch, landed several solid right hands and did damage with a steady diet of body shots. One of Murata’s left hooks to the body in the third round visibly hurt Golovkin, who stepped back and took a deep breath.
Murata continued to apply pressure but eventually Golovkin’s stiff jab and power connects began to slow him down.
In the sixth-round, referee Luis Pabon warned Murata when one of his body shots strayed below the belt. Golovkin shook it off and a few seconds later landed a fight-changing right hand that rocked Murata and ejected his mouthpiece. From then on, Golovkin was in command and continued to break down Murata, who showed enormous heart.
Golovkin landed several left hooks and an uppercut in the seventh round to again hurt Murata, who was hanging in there but did not look long for the fight.
Golovkin went on the immediate attack as the ninth round began and landed a right hand. Murata backed up but GGG was all over him. He forced Murata to the ropes and continued to land power shots.
Murata (16-3, 13 KOs), 36, who was making the second defense of his second title reign, mounted a very brief rally when he landed a right hand, but Golovkin returned the favor with a right of his own that sent Murata to the canvas. As soon as Pabon began to count, Murata’s corner threw in the towel and Pabon waved off the fight at 2 minutes, 11 seconds to end one of the most significant fights in Japanese boxing history.
Golovkin led on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage, 79-73, 78-74 and 77-75.
According to CompuBox statistics, Golovkin land 257 of 629 punches (41 percent) and Murata landed 144 of 592 (24 percent), including 46 body shots that. Golovkin outlanded Murata in every round
Besides taking Murata’s 160-pound world title, Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs), a Kazakhstan native living in Santa Monica, California, retained his IBF belt for the second time in his second title reign. He tied Hopkins with a division-record 20 defenses in his first reign before losing the controversial rematch to Alvarez in 2018.
Photo: Philip Fong/AFP
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What a great action fight!!!! Murata was bringing in the beginning of the fight. TripleG looked forty, but a strong af 40 and loaded with a careers worth of skill and talent and weapons. More muscular, but less in the tank.
There was a look on GGGs face at the end like, “holy crap that was hard work!!” Did you catch that?
I will definitely watch GGG against Canelo, but I think Canelo will be able to out work him and maybe get a stoppage.
If I was triple G I’d take a long hard look at that fight vs. a victory lap and a nice healthy, and wealthy, retirement.
It was an entertaining fight. It would seem GGG couldn’t fight three minutes of each round, whether that was due to age, layoff or both remains to be seen. I do give Canelo a reasonable chance of stopping GGG this time.