Gennadiy Golovkin is expecting a stern test when he faces Ryoto Murata next month in Japan, a fight being shown live on DAZN. The Kazakh hero has been inactive since December 2020 but is hoping to make this year count as he faces Murata in April and Canelo Alvarez later this year.
An agreement is in place for the rivals to meet in September if they both come through their next fights. Golovkin must get past Murata, while Canelo takes on Dmitry Bivol next month with the WBA light-heavyweight title on the line.
Neither fighter can afford a slip up, and Golovkin is preparing for a tough assignment on April 9th against a fighter he knows well.
“He’s the pride and the star of his country,” said Golovkin when speaking to Ariel Helwani. “I know the organizers of this event. Everything will be top class, and I’m very excited to be a part of this amazing event. He’s an Olympic champion and he’s the current world champion holding the WBA title.
On sparring Murata, ‘GGG’ added, “It did take place but that was a long time ago. It was not the pure sparring approach that he came to spar me. I learned during those sessions that Murata is a very serious fighter with a high boxing IQ.”