Saitana Super Arena, Japan
You can call it a great way to celebrate one’s 40th birthday, which is what Gennady-Golovkin did yesterday. The Kazakhstani future Hall of Famer looked to start to unify the middleweight division. And that’s exactly what he did at 2:02 of the 9th-round. Doing so against hometown fighter and now former WBA champion Ryota-Murata. Proving that Golovkin has something left in the tank. But how much might be another story.
There’s no doubt the one thing GGG wants more than anything is that third-fight with Canelo Alvarez. But is that something he’s going to get, or deserves? Right now Alvarez is on the title hunt, with bigger names on his hit list. But to be fair, GGG now has two. And whether you think he beat GGG, and drew with him is inconsequential.
Golovkin Has Something Left… Or Does He
He started slow, despite coming out with a solid jab. And at times against Murata wasn’t moving well, with the Japanese star controlling distance with an aggressive attack. Now that could be ring-rust from a year plus away, or it could be the age thing.
However a slicing right hand knocked the mouth-piece from Murata’s mouth, that referee Luis Pabon quickly retrieved. From that point on it went from a rock ’em sock ’em fight to a systematic breakdown of the taller fighter. While he didn’t look like the 20-year old Golovkin, rounds 6-9 he looked to have found a fountain of youth. Although against the machine that’s Alvarez it might not worked out that way. Murata followed the Derevyanchenko plan and hurt GGG to the body often. And it’s true Murata has 13 KO’s in his 16-wins, he just didn’t have the power to stop the heart of Golovkin.
It’s no doubt a statement win that he can still “hang”; however, Murata isn’t exactly part of the youth movement of the sport. He’s 36. And at least his corner were responsible enough to throw the towel in and not see their fighter in his home get completely wrecked and torn up. It’s a loss he can at least come back from relatively easy.
Now, how Charlo, Munguia, or Andrade handle “The Big Drama Show” is anyone’s guess. But, they’d better be well aware of his looping rights, and left hooks to the body. Or they’d all be done too.
