There is no doubt that Gennady Golovkin is the most dominant boxer in the 160-pound middleweights, at least his domination time, the number of consecutive titles are all said, and in 3 days (April 9), Golovkin will play away to Murata Yuta in Japan, when the WBA "Super", IBF, IBO three golden belts will be online to compete, while more than 200 countries around the world live broadcast, which shows the degree of attention of this game.
The battle site of Golovkin vs Murata is located in the Saitama Super Arena bordering Tokyo, but for Golovkin, he has left his presence in many parts of the world, such as Madison Garden Square in New York, London 02 Arena, StubHub Center in Los Angeles, T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, etc., so this position has long been strange.
Golovkin has been a middleweight boxer every year since 2010, a testament to his discipline, motivation and talent. On Golovkin's resume, he successfully defended the title 21 times, 20 of them consecutively, the highest record in his class, and is considered difficult to break for decades to come.
For this week's battle with Murata Yuta, the outside world is still widely optimistic about Golovkin, but the reality that has to be faced is that Golovkin is 40 years old, past his peak, and is playing on the road, coupled with Murata Yuta's outstanding strength, so whether he can win the game is indeed an unknown.
Golovkin's coach Jonathan Banks admitted in his latest interview that it may be more difficult and tricky than expected to defeat Murata.
Banks said: "Murata is the winner, he has proven himself, as an Olympic boxer, Murata won the gold medal. As a professional boxer, Murata has won the WBA twice, and we know very well that there will be a tough game this Saturday, and it will be an uphill battle. Japanese boxing fans are among the best boxing fans in the world, but they will definitely support their heroes, which is inevitable and what we need to understand. ”
Banks said that Murata, who plays at home, will invisibly increase greater motivation, and what Golovkin has to do is to adapt to the disadvantages of away combat and transform the pressure into his own motivation.
Banks said: "For the boxers, the home game is a bonus, when I was working with the Klenk training camp boxers in Detroit, I saw them do the shocking thing in the local battle, which is that the level of the game is much higher than usual, like a force rising from under their feet and giving them extra motivation, which is good for Murata Yuta, but Golovkin is not intimidated, for most of his career, it is like this, I remember Michael Jordan away games were not affected, The same is true of Golovkin, who is Jordan in the boxing ring and has never been afraid to fight away. Golovkin knew boxing was a business and some deals had to be done in someone else's back garden, but he wasn't distracted and was very focused on the middleweight champion united. ”
The battle with Murata Yuta is the fourth time that Banks, as a coach, has cooperated with Golovkin, and the first 3 cooperations have been mixed by the outside world, and perhaps there will be a more intuitive answer this time. "We've been consolidating what Golovkin has, while combining what makes him special as an amateur boxer, working on the basics – time, rhythm, speed," Banks said. In boxing confrontations, to maintain the elite level, you either progress or die out. Golovkin didn't just rely on strength, I remember when he was in his spare time, Emanuel Stuward and I marveled at Golovkin's all-round ability, he was an extraordinary attacking boxer who could do whatever he wanted, this was Golovkin's first battle when he was 40 years old, he was still a young and hungry athlete. ”
Banks compares Golovkin to "Emperor" Jordan, many people may not agree, not to mention the achievements and influence of the two in their respective fields, if it is true as Banks said, Golovkin is not afraid of away games like Jordan, then it is indeed quite good, to put it bluntly, this week with Murata Yuta, Golovkin needs to overcome only two problems: one is age, the other is the away factor. If one of them is solved, it is undoubtedly half the battle.