Gennadiy Golovkin can still bring it at 40.
Triple-G endured some difficult moments but gradually broke down and then stopped Ryota Murata in nine rounds to unify two middleweight titles Saturday in Saitama, Japan.
The victory sets up a third fight with rival Canelo Alvarez in September, although we’ll have to see what happens when the Mexican star fights light heavyweight titleholder Dmitry Bivol on May 7.
Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) had several challenges to overcome going into the fight. He turned the big 4-0 on Friday, he hadn’t fought in 16 months (Murata was out for 28) and he was fighting on Murata’s home turf.
And it looked in the early rounds as if Golovkin might not prevail. Both fighters had success in back-and-forth action but the aggressive Murata (16-3, 13 KOs) had Golovkin backing up, a strange sight for those who have followed Triple-G’s career.
The Japanese fighter’s body work also got the attention of Golovkin, who seemed to wince several times when Murata landed shots to the gut.
However, early in Round 6 Golovkin connected on a right hand that knocked the mouthguard out of Murata’s mouth. He wasn’t hurt significantly but that seemed to initiate his downfall, as Golovkin began to land hard punches at a higher rate.
Murata never gave up and had some effective flurries but he couldn’t keep Golovkin off of him and his body could no longer take the punishment.
Finally, Golovkin hurt Murata with the first punch in Round 9 – a straight right hand – and, sensing an opportunity to end the fight, followed with a barrage of accurate shots. Murata fought back bravely but a huge right hand knocked him to all fours and a cornerman threw in the towel, ending the fight.
The official time of the stoppage was 2:11 of Round 9.
Golovkin should now get his long-awaited third fight with Alvarez, against whom he fought to a disputed draw in 2017 and lost a close decision in 2018.
No deal is in place but the sides have made it known they want the fight to happen. It’s not clear how a loss or injury against Bivol might affect Alvarez-Golovkin III.
But Golovkin certainly did his part to make the showdown happen.