By Jim Calfa: Gennadiy Golovkin will be back on Saturday night LIVE on DAZN against his opponent Ryota Murata in a fight that should be an action-packed contest in the middleweight division. The battle takes place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Still trained by Johnathon Banks, Golovkin looks in great shape for a fighter coming off a long 15-month layoff since his last fight against Kamil Szeremeta in December 2020.
Golovkin had been fighting once a year since his loss to Canelo Alvarez, but he skipped a year in 2021 due to his fight against Murata getting moved from December to April because of COVID restrictions.
Suppose all goes well for IBF middleweight champion Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs). In that case, he’ll defeat WBA ‘Super Champion’ Murata (16-2, 13 KOs) and will be in a position to fight for the undisputed 168-lb championship against Canelo Alvarez on September 17th.
Murata has a real shot at winning the fight on Saturday, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he pulls off the upset if Golovkin isn’t the fighter of old.
The way Golovkin looked in his last three fights, Murata has a good chance of beating him. Sergiy Derevyanchenko arguably beat Golovkin in their fight in October 2019, giving him more punishment than Canelo inflicted in their two battles.
In Golovkin’s last fight against little-known IBF mandatory Szeremeta, he looked slow and rusty, not the fighter he’d been in the past. Although Golovkin wound up stopping the Polish fighter Szeremeta in the fourth, that can be attributed to his opponent being a poor one.
Indeed, Szeremeta didn’t look like he belonged in the top 15, let alone ranked #1 by the International Boxing Federation as Golovkin’s mandatory challenger.
You got to wonder what went into the IBF organization’s thinking process in giving Szeremeta such a high ranking based on wins over obscure fodder-level opposition.
“I think this is a fight where Murata is being overlooked. Everybody is already scheduling GGG vs. Canelo for September,” said Rick Glaser to Fighthype.
“The road trip continues for GGG. He’s a road warrior. He’s fought all over the world. He’s a global star. This is a unification fight against another world champion,” said Tom Loeffler to K.O. Artist Sports about Gennadiy Golovkin vs. Ryota Murata unification fight this Saturday.
“We’re excited about that. If everything goes the right way in Japan, then it looks like the Canelo fight will happen in September. Canelo has to beat [Dmitry] Bivol, but we’ll see what happens.
“GGG is 100% focused on Murata. We don’t want to speculate what happens after that, and we’re looking for another unification fight for him.
“As I’ve told people on Twitter, he’s always been willing to move to 168, as long as it’s the right type of fight. Canelo at 168, a great fight. If it makes sense for him to move up, then he has no problem in moving up to 168.
“It has to be a bigger fight at 168 than at 160. That’s what a lot of fans didn’t understand at the time. Murata is no slouch. He’s gotten a lot better since that loss to Rob Brant, and he’s in the prime of his career.
“GGG is turning 40, so I think he’s still got a lot of knockouts inside of him, a lot of fights inside of him. He lives a very clean lifestyle, and he’s a big puncher. So I look forward to GGG having a big year this year.
“I think Canelo waited until he thought it was safe to get back in the waters with GGG. As I mentioned, he’s going to be 40 this year, and Canelo is looking at maybe he can win the fight without the help of the judges outside of the first two fights.
“We’ll see what happens, like I said. I don’t want to speculate too much on what may happen down the road. We’re focused 100% on Murata. Look, if GGG unified champion at middleweight, then he’s had a tremendous run. Every year, he’s been a world champion since 2010.
“I have respect for Bivol, but I think Canelo is at the top of his game right now. He’ll be too fast, too agile, he’s very hard to hit, and I think the speed will carry Canelo through that fight.
