Promoter Eddie Hearn thinks the inactive IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin is in a “dangerous” fight against the heavy-handed WBA champion Ryota Murata this Saturday night in DAZN.
The monster puncher Murata (16-2, 13 KOs) possesses power close to that of Golovkin’s if not better, and he’ll be enjoying the home country advantage with the contest being staged at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
With so much riding on this fight for Golovkin as far as him getting the trilogy match against Canelo Alvarez next September, he cannot afford to lose to Murata.
That’s the fight that Golovkin has been waiting for, and perhaps the reason why he’s fought rarely since 2018. Now that Golovkin, DAZN, and the boxing public are finally close to seeing the trilogy bout between Canelo and GGG, it could be ruined by Murata.
That’s why you have to second-guess Golovkin’s decision to take a tough fight against the dangerous puncher Murata at this point.
The timing for this fight is terrible for Golovkin because he has so much at stake at this point with the Canelo clash, and the huge money he can make in that fight.
Whatever advantages that Golovkin would have had over Murata earlier in his career in terms of pedigree have been evened out due to his advanced age, inactivity, ring wear, and the string of four consecutive lackluster performances dating back to 2018.
Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) hasn’t fought in a year and a half and didn’t look good in that fight against Kamil Szeremeta in December 2020.
This Friday, April 8th, Golovkin will be turning 40-years-old, and while he maintains that he’s been taking care of his body, his last four fights suggest that his age has become a problem.
“I think this is a really, dangerous, tough fight on so many different levels,” Hearn said to The DAZN Boxing Show. “If you’re ever going to fight Gennadiy Golovkin, this is the time to do it.
“Is the fear factor evaporating from Gennadiy Golovkin?” Hearn continued. “This is a very inactive Gennadiy Golovkin.
Whatever fear that Golovkin used to instill in his opponents has disappeared as a result of his inactivity, and poor showings in his fights against these opponents: Kamil Szeremeta, Steve Rolls, and Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Where Golovkin lost his mystique of being a killer in the ring was in 2017 in his first fight against Canelo, choosing to box him from the outside, seemingly borrowing the blueprint created by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his win over the Mexican star in 2013.
That was the wrong approach to that fight for Golovkin, and he’s made things worse by choosing to continue to box since that first fight with Canelo.
In Golovkin’s second fight with Canelo, he boxed even more, and shockingly gave ground to his smaller, weaker opponent when he would attack him. More than anything, that fight showed that the “fear factor” that Golovkin once had was no longer there.
It wasn’t that Golovkin’s power had disappeared. No, it was more of a case of his decision to become a boxer and walk away from the power game that he once used to win fights.
Golovkin’s ex-coach Abel Sanchez said last month that he needs to return to his former style of fighting because it’s not working for him to be trying to outbox his opponents. He’s not a good enough boxer to win fights using that method.
“What does Gennadiy Golovkin have left? Power is the last thing to go, are the feet going to start slowing down, is he going to get hit more because he used to get hit quite a lot.”
“If we see a prime Gennadiy Golovkin, then the trilogy for the undisputed super middleweight championship between Canelo and GGG is a monster,” said Hearn.
The 36-year-old Murata is no spring chicken either, but he’s preserved himself by sitting out of the ring for the last 2 1/2 years since his easy fifth-round knockout win over Steven Butler.
In contrast to Golovkin, who has had many wars during his professional career, Murata has only had one grueling fight against Rob Brant in his nine-year career.
The rest of Murata’s fights have been largely one-sided contests with him battering his over-matched opposition with sledgehammer blows.
