Gennadiy Golovkin and Ryota Murata agree to December 28th unification in Japan

Gennadiy Golovkin’s long-brewing unification match with Ryota Murata is right at the finish line. Mike Coppinger reports that the pair have agreed to meet on December 28th in Kobe, Japan “and are simply waiting for DAZN to sign off on the bout.”

Per Coppinger, Golovkin’s (41-1-1, 36 KO) long stretch of inactivity came about due to “a battle with the platform connected to its expectation that [Canelo] Alvarez and Golovkin would fight a third time.” “GGG” has fought just twice in the last 24 months, narrowly edging out Sergiy Derevyanchenko for the IBF middleweight title and subsequently defending it with a December 2020 rout of Kamil Szeremeta.

WBA champion Murata (16-2, 13 KO) is coming up on two years out of the ring himself. His 2019 campaign saw him decisively avenge a loss to Rob Brant with a two-round mauling and beat down Canada’s Steven Butler soon after.

Both men were supposed to take summer tune-up bouts ahead of this matchup, but those never materialized, possibly due to the aforementioned issues with DAZN.

It’s not a blockbuster, but I’d say it’s the right fight for these two at this stage of their careers. Plus, both are heavy-handed aggressors with long histories of violent finishes, so it figures to be easy on the eyes.