Gennady Golovkin Defeats Murata and Chases His Stolen Greatness

By Peter Silkov

Writer at The Boxing Glove

Gennady Golovkin overcame 16 months of ring rust and the encroaching shadow of father time, to stop Ryota Murata in 9 rounds on Saturday night. This win adds Murata’s WBA belt to the IBF title belt which he already held. The victory reignited GGG’s career, making him a ‘unified champion’ now that he holds two world middleweight title belts, but this fight was for a lot more than the increasingly random and frustrating world boxing belts. Murata held the ‘super’ WBA world championship belt, but then the WBA has a long record of being able to come up with seemingly never-ending variations of the world championship belt, from, interim, to regular, and silver to super. In reality, the belts were an afterthought, this was GGG making his first appearance in the ring after 16 months of inactivity, against an opponent who figured to be a worthy test. Fighting just one day after his 40th birthday, Golovkin was seeking to prove that he is still a relevant force in the division that he once dominated so thoroughly, that many top contenders spent their whole careers avoiding him. It's difficult to remember another world champion in recent times (aside from Guillermo Rigondeaux) who was reduced to chasing his challengers rather than having his challengers chase him.

Despite having a fan-friendly style, which has made him one of the most popular and exciting fighters of his era, Golovkin struggled to find big names willing to share the ring with him. Perhaps this was because, as well as being exciting, GGG was also destructive. Devastatingly destructive.

Canelo made GGG wait about 5 years before he finally agreed to face him in the ring. Following a prolonged and acrimonious build-up during which Canelo played a good impersonation of a blushing bride as he hedged and dodged fighting GGG until Golovkin was 35 and already showing some signs of slipping from his formidable peak. In his contest, prior to the first Canelo match, GGG had been taken the full 12 rounds for the first time during his title reign after a lackluster performance against Daniel Jacobs. Canelo’s management had bided their time masterfully.

The record books will tell you that on September 16th, 2017, Golovkin and Canelo fought each other to a spirited 12-round draw. Then, almost exactly one year later to the day, the two men met in a rematch with Canelo winning a majority decision, after another highly charged encounter. The truth though, as many well-versed boxing followers will tell you, is something rather different from what is on the record books.

To start with, very few, (including Canelo’s usually fanatical fan-base) believed that the first fight should have been anything other than a clear decision win for GGG. Though the fight was competitive, GGG won many rounds clearly and dominated with his heavier punching and higher activity. Yet not for the first time (nor the last, unfortunately) the fight turned out to be judged by the three blind mice. Even the one card that voted for GGG was far too close. If the judging of the first fight was bad, the rematch wasn’t much better. This time the fight was genuinely closer, with GGG’s superior strength from 12 months earlier having noticeably waned. Was this due to the encroachment of age (GGG was by now already 36 years old) was there some other reason for Canelo’s sudden increase in strength? The whole Mexican meat episode is well known now, yet safely swept under the carpet by most fans and the media, but the difference in Canelo’s performance in the space of one year may still be more telling than some would like to imagine.

The decision itself was again judged unjust by the majority of the crowd and even Canelo’s usually die-hard fans greeted the verdict with boos. Canelo had his ‘victory’ and that’s all that mattered in the history of this gravy machine. Already there were signs that Canelo could never be beaten on points. Certainly not in front of his fans at the T. Mobile Arena, Las Vegas.

Four years on, and memories fade fast in boxing, especially when they are inconvenient. The well-crafted and expertly guided cash cow has been maneuvered into world titles at two more weights since his second match with GGG and is now regularly hailed by many in the press as p4p number one in the world. He is even feted as the greatest fighter ever produced by Mexico. GGG meanwhile has been left chasing shadows, trying to recapture the glory that should have been his but was cruelly taken from him, not once but twice.

Imagine if Golovkin had officially won those fights against Canelo, imagine if he had won even one of them? His career trajectory, his standing in the sport, would be so much different today.

GGG is not bitter, he doesn’t whine about the Canelo fights, yet he has spoken strongly about his treatment by the judges of both those fights and how he believes that he was robbed of victories twice.

Canelo made GGG wait for 5 years before their first fight; he has now made him wait for four years for their 3rd meeting. Turns out GGG fans weren’t wrong when they claimed that Alvarez would never agree to a third fight until Golovkin is past his 40th birthday.

On Saturday night Golovkin entered the ring… one day past his 40th birthday, knowing that a win against Murata may well open the door for that long-awaited 3rd match with career nemesis, Canelo. Soon it became clear that with every fight he has, GGG is now increasingly fighting two opponents whenever he now enters the ring. His physical opponent and that old foe of fighters and athletes throughout history, father time.

Watching GGG now is akin to seeing a classic old rock band performing in their 60s or 70s, (athletes age faster than musicians). The brilliance, which once lit up every performance, has become more of an occasional spark here and there. This might sound harsh, but it is difficult to imagine the GGG of seven or ten years ago being troubled by Murata the way he was on Saturday night.

Murata started the match very strongly and with confidence, which belied his underdog status. To be fair Murata is no spring chicken himself at 36, but the Japanese-born slugger has only had 18 professional contests compared to GGG's 42, and that comparative freshness showed, at least in the early rounds of Saturday night's fight.

From the beginning, it became very clear that this was not the Golovkin of old, but rather an ‘old’ Golovkin. The old ability to take control of the center of the ring was missing as GGG found himself unceremoniously outpunched and outworked by a visibly faster, fresher, and stronger fighter. The action was intense from the beginning, but it was Murata, (who won Olympic Gold at the 2012 Olympic Games) rather than GGG who was forcing the action. When Murata landed the weight of his punches was visible, and on occasion, GGG was visibly moved even shaken, especially by some of his opponent's body shots. Golovkin’s punches on the other hand seemed to be bouncing rather harmlessly off Murata.

The first four rounds of the fight followed the pattern of both men meeting mid-ring and trying to attain domination with a continuous exchange of leather. Though GGG was certainly having his moments, it was Murata who was able to land more often and with more effect and GGG who was finding himself in the uncomfortable position of being put onto the back foot, a position which he has rarely found himself in during his stellar career.

Golovkin was being drawn into that weird twilight zone that older fighters begin visiting more and more often as their careers reach their ends. It is a place where they begin to find themselves slipping out of time with the present, as they face fighters who are suddenly faster and stronger and seem to be moving in a higher gear.

GGG has always been seen as almost the perfect fighting machine, but the GGG machine spent much of the first 4 rounds misfiring. His defense, never his strongest feature, was alarmingly porous at times, as Murata’s punches, especially the right hand, found his time and again. Golovkin's speed, once razor-sharp, has noticeably waned in recent years, but at times against Murata, he seemed a significant half-second or so behind the punching speed of his opponent. Also, of concern was GGG's movement. Though never a fleet-footed mover, GGG used to use economical and swift footwork, which always seemed to have him in the right place at the right time.

On this night though GGG started with legs that seemed almost rooted to the canvas at times. When he did move it was with the heavy hesitancy common to the older fighter.

After four rounds GGG needed to do something to turn the tide in a fight that seemed to be getting harder and harder for him. GGG found that something extra in the 5th round and showed again that extra ingredient that marks out the true champions. The ability to turn a fight around when visibly up against a faster and stronger opponent.

In the fifth round, the GGG machine finally found a higher gear, and his hands started to move with greater speed. The real turning point came midway through the round when a Golovkin punch ripped Murata’s mouthpiece from his mouth, sending it flying across the ring.

From that moment Golovkin had reached out of his personal twilight zone and turned back the clock. From the 5th round on, Golovkin began gaining the upper hand in the action. The battle was still raging toe-to-toe, but now it was GGG who was landing more frequently and beginning to display his wide variety of punches.

With Golovkin in the ascendance, Murata began to slow, as he began to take more and more punishment. Yet Murata’s courage never wavered, and at every point where it looked as if GGG was about to gain overwhelming control, Murata would come back with punches of his own. Yet Murata’s attacks were becoming more tired and desperate as the rounds flew by.

GGG may be faded and past his 40th birthday, but his fitness and determination remain impeccable. This along with his heart and granite chin has much to do with him finally overcoming Murata.

The end finally came in the 9th round, which started as a strong Golovkin round as he opened up seemingly looking for a knockout, Murata withstood a withering attack by GGG, but rather than going down actually launched a brave mid-round counterattack. At one point it looks as if GGG may have shot his bolt and punched himself out trying to finish Murata. However, Golovkin then struck back with a ….. to send Murata spinning down to the deck like a broken doll. It was at this point that Murata’s corner sensibly threw in the towel, just as the referee was waving the fight over. GGG had broken down another challenger.

One could be too critical of Golovkin’s performance, and the truth is that though he is visibly faded in comparison to the GGG of the past, he remains a formidable and brave fighter. Also, there is the aspect of his 16 months of inactivity before this fight and how much of his early frailty was down to ring rust rather than a permanent decline. Murata also deserves credit for his performance and for pushing GGG into such a difficult fight.

This fight underlined that GGG while not the fighting machine of the past remains formidable and with the kind of fitness that would still push the very best at his weight. With this win, GGG has reignited his career, and his visible vulnerability is liable to make him a more attractive prospect to many top fighters.

But what now for Golovkin?

Though there will be several options that GGG could follow right now, one looms large above all the others. As much as he might not want to admit it, and even with two world title belts to his name, GGG is still chasing. He is chasing that elusive 3rd fight with Canelo Alvarez, and a final chance to inflict an official defeat upon the man many feel he has already beaten twice.

photo: dazn

As always with Canelo, nothing is certain until the ‘Golden Goose’ of boxing decides to announce his intentions. Yet it is expected that if he gets past Dmitry Bivol on May 7th, then he will next meet GGG for their long-awaited 3rd fight, sometime around mid-September.

After the second match between Golovkin and Canelo, it was a common joke among some boxing followers (mostly those not blinded by the Canelo media machine!) that Canelo would probably make Golovkin wait until he was past 40 until he got a third match. Ironically that is what seems to be about to happen. Canelo and his team have bided their time masterfully and now GGG seems ripe for the 3rd fight. Still exciting, still a big draw, but certainly a far less dangerous proposition than he was four years ago.

Should GGG even take the third fight with Canelo? He will know now that the chances of gaining a decision over Canelo are beyond slim, even if he is deserving of it, and beyond that, there is only the stoppage route to victory, something which even five years ago GGG wasn’t able to get close to achieving. For all the hype, dodgy judges, and cherry-picking (not to mention other shady stuff) there's no doubting Canelo’s toughness. Whatever may be behind it.

If Golovkin couldn’t stop Canelo 5 years ago, it's highly unlikely that he will be able to stop Canelo today in his present reduced form.

photo: stubhub

What also needs to be taken into account is the likelihood that the 3rd fight will take place at 168 pounds, a weight that will overwhelmingly favour Canelo rather than GGG. Golovkin is currently and has always been a natural 160-pounder(who seldom gains more than ten pounds between fights) rather than someone who comes down from over 190 pounds for his fights as Canelo has always done.

The purpose of a third fight with GGG for Canelo has always been to score a definitive defeat over Golovkin. Hence part of the reason for the long wait between the 2nd and proposed 3rd fights. Canelo has only been interested in fighting GGG again if he was secure in the belief that he could score a non-controversial victory this time. Ideally, he would like to stop or knock out Golovkin.

Canelo still bristles over the controversy surrounding his two matches with Golovkin and would like nothing better than to end the rivalry with a stoppage victory over Golovkin.

Certainly, the Golovkin who struggled with Murata did not look equipped to deal with Canelo at 168 pounds. Sadly the man who was once a feared and much avoided fighting machine now seems very mortal and vulnerable. He is ripe for Canelo to pick for his much-wanted ‘definitive’ victory.

Having followed Golovkin throughout his spectacular career, and after seeing him robbed by the judges twice against Canelo, I would rather not see a reduced GGG fight Canelo a third time at a point in time where it suits no one but Canelo.

After watching Golovkin battle past Murata, even taking into account his ring rust and the ability to improve himself between now and September, it is clear that time has moved on for GGG. Those tools which once made him the best in the world will never be quite as sharp nor so deadly again. A fight between Golovkin and Canelo now would be a poor reflection upon a fair fight between the two in their primes. GGG was already past his prime when Canelo finally fought him for the first time and now he is past the point where he will be a danger to Canelo.

No one knows this more than Canelo and his team which is why the fight is finally being made.

Golovkin is a warrior and the chances are that he will still take the third fight against Canelo despite any advice he may receive to go in a different direction.

Following their fight, GGG visited Murata’s dressing room and gave him back the WBA belt. It was the kind of classy gesture that makes a true champion and gives a fighter the kind of greatness that can't be bought by a crooked judge's scorecard. GGG may never beat Canelo Alvarez officially on paper, but he holds something over Canelo which is perhaps more precious than any victory in the ring. Integrity. It is that, above all else which underlines Golovkin's true greatness.

No cherry-picking can beat that.

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