By: Hans Themistode
Despite turning 40 just a few days ago, and despite having been out of the ring for almost two years, Gennadiy Golovkin wiped out the ring over the weekend to become the unified middleweight champion.
Almost 5-1 favorites stormed into Ryota Murata’s backyard at the Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, to score a ninth-round victory tonight. While the end result was exactly what Golovkin envisioned, Murata gave him all he could handle.
In the early days of their middleweight unification, Murata found success as he delivered a powerful jab that repeatedly butted Golovkin in the head. When Murata finds his range, he attacks the middle of his man. Although Murata appeared to be in control of the game, Golovkin extinguished his momentum in the second half.
A Murata looks tired, weary of the ropes as the championship round draws near. In the ninth minute, with Murata seemingly smoking, Golovkin ended the night roughly with a short right hook that forced a throw-in from inside the box.
Victory for the newly crowned unified champion not only allows him to add another world title to his collection but he is likely to mark his third meeting with Canelo Alvarez this coming September. . First, though, Alvarez had to get past the WBA light heavyweight, Dmitry Bivol.
With most of the boxing world eager to see what Golovkin had left in his 40-year-old body, Tim Bradley was completely unimpressed by his performance. If Alvarez and Golovkin officially meet for the third and perhaps last time, Bradley remains indifferent as to how their contest will officially unfold.
Bradley told a group of reporters: “He’s going to knock Golovkin out. “He looked terrible at first and then he closed strongly towards the end. He shows that he is in great shape, still has power. I’ve seen some good lateral movement from him. ”
Of course, the aforementioned strength always comes to the rescue of Golovkin. However, Golovkin has aged, his overall skills seem to be eroding. While Bradley believes Golovkin will still be one of the few fighters on the long list, he still insists that the third fight against Alvarez will not end well.
“I saw him stop him. And if he doesn’t stop him, he’ll hurt him. He will hurt him very badly. Canelo, I just believe that Golovkin is on another level. ”
