Gennady Golovkin v Ryota Murata preview: Golovkin to keep Canelo trilogy fight alive?

Gennady Golovkin and Ryota Murata are finally set to meet in the ring in Japan on Saturday after December’s bout was postponed, with both world champions putting their middleweight titles on the line in what is sure to be an intriguing unification bout.

Golovkin favourite for more glory

Gennady Golovkin’s record speaks for itself. The former pound-for-pound number one is a two-time middleweight champion, having held the IBF and IBO titles since defeating Sergiy Derevyanchenko in 2019, while his last bout saw him make a record 21st middleweight title defence. At the age of 39, however, Golovkin is no spring chicken and heads into Saturday’s unification bout with Ryota Murata not having fought since December 2020.

Will ‘GGG’ prove ring-rusty when he takes on Murata in the Japanese boxer’s own backyard? And will his advancing years have an effect on his performance? As the 2/11 favourite for victory, the odds would suggest not.

Since the only defeat of Golovkin’s career to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in 2018, he has won his last three fights – and in impressive enough fashion – defeating Steve Rolls, Derevyanchenko and Kamil Szeremeta along the way, while becoming a two-time world champion in the process.

Unifying the middleweight division will offer plenty of reward for Golovkin during the latter stages of his career, but arguably the bigger carrot with victory here is keeping alive a trilogy fight with Canelo and the opportunity to avenge the only loss of his career – providing the Mexican can also defeat Dmitry Bivol next month.

With plenty on the line for Golovkin, expect his quality and superiority to shine through. The Kazakhstani fighter is 8/11 to win by KO, TKO or DQ, while he is 2/1 to win by decision or technical decision.

Murata to make home advantage count?

Ryota Murata will fancy his chances on Saturday with the home crowd in Saitama on his side in what will be a career-defining fight for the WBA middleweight champion. The two-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist has spoken about how his whole amateur and professional career has been in preparation for this fight, so you can rest assured he will be giving it his all here.

Yet if there were any concerns about Golovkin’s rustiness, Murata has been out of the ring for even longer, having last fought in December 2019 when he retained his WBA belt with a stoppage victory against Steven Butler.

Rustiness or not, Murata has 13 KOs to his name from 16 fights and that may be his best chance of victory if he is to spring an upset. He is 9/1 to win by KO, TKO or DQ this weekend.

The 7/2 underdog has lost two of his 16 fights, and while the tough and aggressive fighter went on to avenge both defeats against Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam and Rob Brant, the quality of Golovkin could be a bridge too far for Murata.

For value, a stoppage win for Golovkin in rounds 4-6 at 4/1 could be the way to go.

Check out all the latest boxing betting odds at William Hill