The middleweight division has always been one of the most important in boxing and has featured some great battles over the years. Next Saturday, Ryota Murata and Gennady Golovkin will meet face-to-face at the Saitama Super Arena to unify their World Boxing Association (WBA) and IBF titles.

A veteran duel has generated a lot of expectations and could be another one of those memorable 160-pound battles for different reasons. 

Both fighters have fearsome jabs and are proven veterans who know what it takes to settle tough fights, which adds uncertainty to the bout. 

WBA champion Murata has the home advantage and arrives in a great motivational moment as he has been able to bounce back from adverse moments and prove himself what he is capable of. Since his tough loss in 2018 against Rob Brant, the Japanese came back in 2019 to beat him in a rematch and regain the title, which he later defended against Steven Butler. 

Golovkin also went through a similar situation after losing to “Canelo” Alvarez in September 2018 and having a war against Sergiy Derevyachenko in 2019 to become world champion again. The Kazakh has shown that he can stay in the elite despite his 40 years and now he will take on another challenge as a visitor. 

Japan will live one of its most mediatic and interesting fights in recent years and this week will be full of previous activities. Next Friday they will step on the scales and once they mark the 160 pounds of the division they will be ready for the fight. 

Murata has a record of 16 wins, 2 losses and 13 knockouts, while Golovkin has 41 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw and 36 knockouts.