Boxing fans across the world are delighted to see the return of Gennadiy Golovkin on Saturday who defends his IBF middleweight title against WBA champion Ryota Murata live on DAZN (check for availability).
None more so than Academy Award nominated actress and boxing fan Rosie Perez, but when she was asked by The DAZN Boxing Show as to how the middleweight unification title fight will play out, she hopes that Golovkin is still feeling fresh despite a 16-month absence from the ring.
"When you compare someone like GGG to Bernard Hopkins, Bernard Hopkins stayed busy. He stayed busy, he stayed active, he never left the gym, his famous goes ‘I’m ready just incase that phone goes, I’m ready,'" Perez said.
"GGG has taken time off, he hasn’t had the fights that he needs.
"I hope that his pedigree has sustained, I hope that his age won’t be too much of a factor, but I have to tell you as a woman of a certain age when I go to the gym to go boxing, it hurts, it’s harder, it takes so much more effort. Even Bernard Hopkins told me that."
If Golovkin does get past Murata this weekend, a trilogy fight with Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez could be next as long as the Mexican beats Dmitry Bivol on May 7th live on DAZN.
But Perez fears for Golovkin, who could come up against a Canelo who has steadily improved over recent years and is currently at the peak of this powers.
"I’m not giving GGG an excuse, what I’m saying is that Canelo has stayed busy, he has steadily improved in a way that’s really unbelievable.
"We have not seen that with GGG, we’ve not had the opportunity to see that with GGG, we really don’t know so when this fight happens in Japan, a lot of questions will be answered, but I think I would be a fool to predict the outcome because we don’t know.
"I hope GGG wins, I will be rooting for GGG because I want him to have his day with Canelo."
TV and movie star Perez discussed much more, including the Ryan Garcia vs. Emmanuel Tagoe fight that airs live on DAZN the same night as GGG vs. Murata, in her exclusive interview with The DAZN Boxing Show which lands on the DAZN app Wednesday, April 6. For more information on DBS, how to watch and how to sign up for a subscription in your country, click here.