The great Gennady Golovkin will step into the ring again when he takes on Ryota Murata next weekend in Japan. Golovkin (41-1-1 with 36 knockouts) is one of the greatest fighters of the modern era. He was robbed twice in the Canelo Alvarez fights, but true boxing fans still respect his greatness. Murata (16-2 with 13 knockouts) has fought sparingly over the last five years, but he is only a moderate underdog by the boxing betting odds.
Gennady Golovkin and Ryota Murata will meet for the WBA, IBF, and IBO middleweight belts on Saturday, April 9, 2022, at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. This fight will be broadcast on DAZN in the United States with the card slated to start at 5 a.m. ET and main event ring walks scheduled for 7:40 a.m. ET.
When: Saturday, April 9, 2022
Where: Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan
Why: WBA, IBF, and IBO middleweight titles
Gennady Golovkin vs Ryota Murata Betting Odds
Gennady Golovkin -610
Ryota Murata +427
Golovkin is not as much of a favorite per the boxing betting odds as you might think given his pedigree. He is a sizeable favorite at -610, but the fact that he isn’t a bigger favorite is a little telling. At this price, someone would need to bet $610 on Golovkin in order to win $100. Meanwhile, a $100 bet on Murata would return a $427 profit if he were to pull off the upset.
As the fight nears, there will be decision betting too. You will be able to bet on whether the fight is decided by KO, TKO, or decision, and you can bet on which boxer will win the fight in that fashion as well.
Gennady Golovkin vs Ryota Murata Preview
Few boxers have been as impressive as Gennady Golovkin. GGG has won 36 of his 43 fights by knockout, and he has been one of the best boxers in the world for two decades. He won several gold medals as an amateur boxer, and he claimed his first middleweight title in August 2010. Golovkin was indisputably the best middleweight fighter for seven years, fully unifying the division against every foe that stood in his way.
Golovkin was jobbed in his two fights against Alvarez, as the worst-case scenario should have been a draw and a majority decision win in the two bouts rather than a draw and a majority decision loss. Those are the only blemishes on his record though, as he is 41-0 in his other fights. GGG reclaimed the IBF and IBO middleweight titles with a unanimous decision victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko in October 2019, and he defended those belts by finishing Kamil Szeremeta in seven rounds in December 2020.
Ryota Murata won the gold medal in the middleweight division at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. There was a lot of buzz surrounding his professional career, and he started with 12 straight wins to his name. However, he lost his first title fight, dropping a split decision to Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam for the WBA middleweight belt. Murata avenged that victory with a seventh-round TKO of N’Jikam five months later, but he only retained the title for one bout before losing a unanimous decision to Rob Brant in October 2018.
Murata won the rematch with Brant, scoring a second-round TKO in July 2019. He defended the title with a fifth-round TKO of Steven Butler in December 2019, but he has not entered the ring in almost two-and-a-half years at this point. There are a lot of questions about him coming into this bout for that reason.
This might be a tough fight for GGG if Murata is locked in. Murata has a five-inch reach advantage, and he is two inches taller than Golovkin. That could lead to him scoring the win in front of his home crowd.
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