Gennadiy Golovkin, Ryota Murata agree to fight on Dec. 29 in Japan
Triple-G is returning to the ring.
Gennadiy Golovkin will face Ryota Murata in a middleweight title-unification fight Wednesday, Dec. 29 in Saitama, Japan, it was announced Thursday. The fight will be streamed on DAZN.
Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) began his second reign as a 160-pound champion when he outpointed Sergiy Derevyanchenko to win the vacant IBF title in October 2019 and stopped Kamil Szeremeta in seven rounds in defense of his belt last December.
Murata (16-2, 13 KOs) regained the WBA title by stopping Rob Brant in two rounds in July 2019, nine months after Brant outpointed him to take his belt.
“I am really excited to be bringing the Big Drama Show to Japan, a country where boxing is very popular,” Golovkin said. “Ryota Murata has been an outstanding champion. It is going to be a special night when we meet in the ring to unify our titles. We are going to give the fans a great fight.”
Big Drama in Japan 💥 See you on December 29 🇯🇵
日本で会えることを楽しみにしています#GGGMurata pic.twitter.com/pngUQI3URL— Gennadiy Golovkin (@GGGBoxing) November 12, 2021
Murata, a 2012 Olympic gold medlist, understands the significance of fighting Golovkin, one of the most-dominating middleweights in many years.
The Kazakhstani, one of the biggest punchers of his generation, reigned as champion for almost the entire 2010s. And many feel that he deserved to win decisions in his two fights with Canelo Alvarez, against whom he’s 0-1-1.
“I feel that my entire amateur and professional boxing career has been a preparation for this fight against Gennadiy Golovkin,” he said through a translator. “This fight will determine my place in the middleweight division and boxing history.
“Gennadiy Golovkin has long been the standard-bearer of the middleweight division. To me, he is still undefeated. I have the highest respect for him.”
Golovkin will have been out of the ring for almost exactly a year. For Murata it will be two years.
“It has been almost two years since my last fight, because of the pandemic, but I have put that time to good use, working very hard with my trainers on improving my physical conditioning and adding more power to my punches,” he said.
“I am so proud Japan is hosting this fight. It is a great honor for me.”
