By Jim Calfa: Gennadiy Golovkin will be fighting one of the strongest punchers of his career on Saturday night against the knockout artist Ryota Murata in a middleweight unification fight on April 9th at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
The Golovkin-Murata fight card will be streamed live on DAZN on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. ET.
In single-punch power, WBA 160-lb champion Murata (16-2, 13 KOs) might even be a bigger puncher than Canelo Alvarez. Still, he doesn’t have the hand speed or counter-punching ability the Mexican star possesses.
IBF middleweight champion Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) can’t afford to labor against Murata as he did in his last three contests against Kamil Szeremeta, Sergiy Derevyanchenko, and Steve Rolls if he wants to have his hand raised at the end.
Golovkin needs to use his old fighting style
Disappointingly, boxing fans haven’t seen the same seek & destroy ‘Drama show’ style of fighting from Golovkin since his questionable 12 round majority decision loss to Canelo Alvarez.
That style of fighting made Golovkin so successful, and, of course, it made him a worldwide superstar.
For the 40-year-old Golovkin to beat Murata, he must bring back some of the old “Mexican style” that he used in the past.
GGG’s ex-coach Abel Sanchez has voiced his opinion on why Golovkin hasn’t looked good in his recent fights, saying that he’s made a mistake in changing his once successful fighting style by becoming more of a boxer.
Getting Golovkin to abandon the cautious fighting style that he’s used since his two fights with Canelo Alvarez may prove to be impossible at this stage in his career.
Gennadiy seems to have become set in his ways after adopting a hybrid Mayweather-esque style of fighting for his two fights with Canelo Alvarez in 2017 and 2018.
It’s understandable why Golovkin used that style against Canelo’s counter-punching, but it didn’t work effectively for him in those contests, nor has it been a good fit for Gennady in his three fights.
Golovkin would have been better if he stuck with the original all-out fighting style that he used in the past, as nothing good has come from him transforming his style into a boxer.
“I think him trying to be a boxer, trying to be a technician [has hurt Golovkin],” said Sanchez to Fight Hub TV. “Gennadiy isn’t the Gennadiy of old of these days.
“It will be a difficult fight for Gennadiy. He should win, but it’s not going to be easy,” said Sanchez in predicting a hard-fought victory for Golovkin over Murata.
Murata predicting victory
“It is an honor to share the ring with the great champion Gennadiy Golovkin,” Ryota Murata stood Japan-Forward. “I am extremely pleased to be part of this historic middleweight title unification fight here in Japan.
“On April 9th, victory will be mine, and Japan will have a unified world middleweight champion,” the 36-year-old Murata said.
Murata will have a sizable crowd on his side on Saturday night at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan, and if Golovkin chooses to continue to box instead of going to war, he could lose.
Sanchez is 100% right about Golovkin having spoiled his game by becoming a boxer, which isn’t a good fit for him because he’s not fast enough or light on his feet like successful boxers tend to be.
“He [Ryota Murata] has not had a chance to face a fighter of my level or to see the boxing that I’m going to demonstrate. At the same time, I don’t want to diminish his wins. I don’t want to say anything bad about the guys over whom he prevailed. And the fact that in his rematches, he avenged both losses, says a lot,” said Gennadiy Golovkin to Yahoo Sports News about his Ryota Murata on Saturday night.
