Gennady “GGG” Golovkin returns to the ring December 29th

Gennady “GGG” Golovkin may be one of the biggest names in boxing. His workman like rate and his ability to have exciting fights is second to none. Wednesday GGG agreed to a deal for his next fight in a middleweight title unification bout against Japanese superstar Ryoto Murata.

The fight will take place at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan just outside Murata's hometown, Tokyo. The Olympic gold medalist is a major star in Japan and the biggest boxing attraction in the country. This fight had been in the works for awhile but the major hiccup was the streaming service DAZN signed GGG to a 6 fight deal for a 100 million dollars in 2019. DAZN had the belief GGG would fight Canelo Alvarez for a third time and they were waiting for the fight to be made. However, Canelo will be engaged with Caleb Plant and the show must go on. So GGG had to renegotiate his contract

GGG has been quiet on the boxing front as of late (41-1-1, 36 KOs) his last fight was this past December TKO victory over fringe contender Kamil Szeremeta. Previously before that fight he was in a fight of the year controversial win against Sergiy Derevyanchenko in 2019. Most analysts felt he lost that fight. It left many questioning how much left GGG had left in the tank despite his status as a middleweight champion. GGG looks to answer that challenge in one of the tougher challenges in his career,

Murata (16-2, 13 KOs), 35, will be stepping up to the elite level for the first time in his career. Since winning Olympic gold in 2012, Murata dominated the competition and got his first chance at a world title in 2017. Murata lost a controversial decision to Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam via split decision. Five months later, Murata got his rightfully deserved rematch against N’Jikam, scoring a seventh-round knockout win. In December of 2019, Murata’s last trip to the ring, he scored a fifth-round stoppage victory against fringe contender Steven Butler.

Both champions fight sparingly but will lock horns in December putting both their belts on the line to unify.