Gennady Golovkin became the new World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight super champion after knocking out Ryota Murata in a war held this Saturday at the Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

The Kazakh, who was already IBF champion, snatched the belt from the Japanese and is now the unified 160-pound monarch after stopping him in the ninth round with a hair-raising right hand. 

However, the fight was not easy for “GGG”, who found himself up against a brave and motivated puncher who came out on equal footing. The Kazakh had to deal with the jab of a taller opponent and the right hand of a Murata that swelled Golovkin’s cheekbone early. 

The 40-year-old veteran stuck to his plan which was to move forward, throw a lot of punches and be accurate with straight punches. He took control of the fight as the rounds went on. 

In the fifth round Golovkin’s superiority began to show and the fight was leaning towards his side with more clarity. From then on he kept hitting his opponent, who responded to the exchanges in a nice fight. The straight right hand that came in the ninth left Murata without response, who fell to the canvas with delayed effect and in his condition the referee Luis Pabon decided not to make the count. 

Golovkin showed that his power is still there and now has a record of 42 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw and 37 knockouts. Murata dropped to 16 wins, 3 losses and 13 knockouts.