Kazakhstan’s Gennady Golovkin celebrates victory against Japan’s Ryota Murata during their WBA IBF middleweight championship boxing bout at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama on April 9, 2022. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP)
Gennady Golovkin earned a ninth-round TKO against Ryota Murata to unify the IBF and WBA middleweight titles on Saturday at Saitama, Japan.
Struggling early, Golovkin (42-1-1) used in-fight adjustments to rally for the victory a day after his 40th birthday. The victory for the native of Kazakhstan could lead to a third fight with Canelo Alvarez later this year.
A look back at a BIG GGG stoppage in the 9th. 💥#GGGMurata | @Stake pic.twitter.com/AUfdb767GY
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) April 9, 2022
Golovkin, the IBF and IBO champion since 2019, previously held the WBC title.
Murata (16-3), a native of Japan who won the WBA title in January, used body blows to take advantage of Golovkin early, but could not hold off his opponent, who went to a flurry of combinations to rally.
GGG is heating up now 🔥#GGGMurata pic.twitter.com/fT96CxgOLm
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) April 9, 2022
Alvarez next faces Dmitry Bivol on May 7, with a victory likely setting up another meeting with Golovkin. Alvarez and Golovkin fought to a draw in 2017 before Alvarez won the rematch in 2018.