Gennadiy Golovkin Vs. Ryota Murata fight prediction, start time, odds, undercard, live stream, expert pick

Saturday in Japan brings the return of one of the best middleweights in the world. Gennadiy Golovkin is back as he looks to unify his IBF title at 160 pounds with Japan’s own Ryota Murata’s WBA title in the main event. A win against Murata is expected to land GGG his long-awaited trilogy bout with undisputed super middleweight king Canelo Alvarez (as long as Alvarez is successful in his move up to light heavyweight against Dmitry Bivol on May 7).

Murata is far from a pushover and should not be treated as a mere bump in the road en route to Golovkin vs. Alvarez 3. Also, Murata has the home-ring advantage, with the fight taking place from Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan (5:10 am ET, DAZN).

In 18 professional fights, Murata has suffered two losses, though he has decisively avenged both. Murata lost a fight for the WBA regular title, a secondary belt for the sanctioning body, to Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam in May 2017. That October, Murata avenged that split decision by forcing N’Jikam’s corner to throw in the towel after seven rounds.

His second defeat played out much the same way, with Rob Brant making a decision in October 2018 only for Murata to come back in their rematch the following July with a relentless attack of power punches that forced a second-round stoppage.

Golovkin turns 40 on Friday and is likely in the final years of his time as a top-tier fighter. Knowing that, it’s all the more important that Golovkin manages to get past a resilient, hard-charging fighter in Murata.

Golovkin rode the momentum of 37 straight wins to open his career, most by knockout, to land his first fight with Alvarez. Despite it seeming Golovkin had done enough to get the win, the fight ended in a split draw, with acceptable scorecards of 115-113 for Golovkin and a 114-114 draw offset by a baffling 118-110 card was turned in for Alvarez.

The second fight, which was just as good, if not better than the first, also saw controversy. Alvarez took home a disputed majority decision.

While it seemed obvious the two needed to fight for a third time, Alvarez repeatedly brushed off the idea and Golovkin moved on to pick up wins over Steve Rolls, Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Kamil Szeremeta, all the while calling for his chance to get Alvarez in the ring one final time.

That opportunity finally came when it was announced that Alvarez had signed a multi-fight deal with DAZN in which the second bout would be with Golovkin as long as both men got past their next tests.

For now, all the pressure is on Golovkin. Beat a tough, slightly younger foe, unify a pair of titles and earn the fight he’s so badly wanted for years.

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The undercard features an intriguing title fight at flyweight when Junto Nakatani puts his WBO championship on the line against Ryoto Yamauchi. Nakatani, 24, is undefeated at 22-0 with 17 knockouts so far in his young career. He’s made one defense of his title, stopping Angel Acosta last September in his US debut. Yamauchi, meanwhile, is 8-1 with seven knockouts on his resume, though Nakatani is clearly the toughest opponent he’s faced in his career.

Let’s take a closer look at the odds before getting to a prediction and pick on the main event. Odds via Caesars Sportsbook.

Golovkin Vs. Murata card, odds

Prediction

Golovkin is still a tremendous fighter, even if more and more moments have shown in recent fights where he may be slipping just a bit from his absolute best. Both men share similar styles, pressuring and throwing heavy power punches. That said, even with Murata being a talented fighter with power, Golovkin has the better overall skills. One red flag, however, is that Murata has no hesitation to throw to the body and Golovkin was badly bothered by the body work of Derevyanchenko in their very close fight in October 2019. Murata’s key to success beyond potentially landing a fight-ending punch would be to work Golovkin’s body at every opportunity.

Still, Golovkin is the smart pick here simply based on likely still being better at 40 than Murata has ever been in his career and Murata isn’t exactly young at 36. Expect some fireworks and a surprisingly close fight, but one that Golovkin can eventually get the better of. Pick: Gennadiy Golovkin via UD