Gennadiy Golovkin struggled through a slow start today in Saitama, Japan and eventually took over before dropping and stopping Ryota Murata in the ninth round to tie the IBF and WBA middleweight titles.
Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) looked stiff and slow at first, and while he’ll never fight like his early-to-mid 30s again, the 40-year-old GGG loosened up, shake the griddle and get the big momentum.
After looking injured from some body shots early on, Golovkin was able to adapt, move better and protect the body while coming back to push back Murata (16-3, 13 KOs), which Murata managed to do in the early rounds.
Murata seemed to be almost out of gas by the seventh lap but bravely persevered. However, the writing was on the wall, and when Golovkin injured him in the ninth, he continued to pour out pressure, eventually putting the Japanese star on the canvas, at which point the towel came.
With the win, GGG has halted its end of building a third fight with Canelo Alvarez in September, which would be for Canelo’s undisputed super middleweight championship.
We’ll have more on GGG vs. Murata shortly. For now, some highlights from the fight.