By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Boxing Beat

WBA middleweight super champion Ryota Murata (16-2, 13 KOs), Japan, and IBF titleholder Gennady Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs), Kazakhstan, will square off for unification in Saitama, Japan, on April 9. Originally their confrontation was scheduled at the same venue on December 29 last, but was inevitably put off because of the Omicron outbreak last year.

The re-scheduled promotion was announced on Thursday by Teiken Promotions in a press conference in Tokyo. Murata, Japan’s national hero and 2012 Olympic gold medalist, jubilantly said, “I’m happy to have this big fight realized after our long patience and anticipation. I wish to be victorious with my best performance.”

Golovkin sent a written message, saying, “I’m also happy to have it finally decided. I’ll demonstrate a show of a big drama.”

The event at the Saitama Super Arena will be shown live through DAZN all over the world except in Japan and Kazakhstan. Within the territory of Japan, Amazon Prime Video will show this sensational encounter without any other broadcast by network or cable television. We are looking forward to watching this hot competition.

The semi-windup will see WBO flyweight titleholder, unbeaten Junto Nakatani (22-0, 17 KOs) make his second defense against WBO Asia Pacific champ Ryota Yamauchi (8-1, 7 KOs), a hard-punching ex-university amateur prospect, over twelve.

Also supporting is the WBO AP lightweight title bout, where unbeaten defending titlist Shuichiro Yoshino (14-0, 11 KOs) will take on former WBO world champ Masayuki Ito (27-3-1, 15 KOs) with his regional belt on the line.