Gennadiy Golovkin vs. Ryota Murata | DAZN - April 9, 2022

[Ruthless-RKO]

[margaret thatcher]

big bros got some powerful looking tiddies on him

[margaret thatcher]

an all asian superfight

[DrDuke]

an all asian superfight

Golovkin is a World man. Russian father, Korean mother, born in Kazakhstan, lives in US.

[apollo creed]

G is the man!

[Ruthless-RKO]

GGG and Ancajas title bouts in jeopardy as Japan closes borders due to Omicron variant

Japan has announced on Monday that they will be closing their borders and suspending entry of foreign visitors due to the threat of the new coronavirus variant Omicron. Although it’s still yet to be determined by scientists if it’s a bigger threat than Delta, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the move an “emergency precaution to prevent a worst-case scenario” in the country.

Japan just recently eased their restrictions for foreign students and workers, but will now be going back to more strict travel guidelines once again.

While the WHO warned that fully understanding the new variant’s level of severity could take weeks, they still deemed that “the overall global risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron is assessed as very high.”

The Japanese Prime Minister did not say how long these restrictions would stay, but should it remain for the next few weeks as expected, some big combat sports events in Japan would be affected.

Gennady Golovkin is scheduled for a middleweight title unification bout against Ryota Murata on December 29, while Filipino IBF junior bantamweight champion Jerwin Ancajas is booked to take on Japan’s Kazuto Ioka on December 31. Current rules don’t allow Golovkin and Ancajas to enter the country, putting the two events in jeopardy.

On the Japanese MMA side of things, there’s an annual tradition of hosting a massive event on New Year’s Eve, and current restrictions would mean that Rizin can’t involve their top stars from other countries. If it stands, they will again have to settle on featuring only locally based fighters, much like what they did in 2020 when the pandemic started.

Israel also took a similarly strong stance as Japan, while several other countries are also tightening up their border restrictions a bit due to the growing number of cases of the Omicron variant. This includes the US, which reportedly plans to ban travel from South Africa and several other countries in the region.

Should more countries follow suit, several combat sports, and sporting events and athletes in general, could be affected as well.

[margaret thatcher]

aww come on, let those dudes slip into the country then close them borders off

[Thomastearns]

How about leaving the borders open to demonstrate that the Japanese government can act as more than sales representatives for Pfizer?

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Enlightened-One]

Predictable, but understandable.

The problem with GGG and Murata though, is they’re both elderly inactive fighters obliged to perform mandatory defences in the near future.

The WBA and IBF, especially the latter, will inevitably force their fighters to face their mandatory challengers, regardless as to whether this is a title unification bout, because this fight has been in the pipeline for about a year and no progress has been made yet.

Surely they can’t keep delaying things.

[DrDuke]

Why on earth they made the fight in Japan? They should have set it in the US to avoid such things.

[Enlightened-One]

Why on earth they made the fight in Japan? They should have set it in the US to avoid such things.

Agreed.

The Golovkin-Murata bout was only officially confirmed less than three weeks ago, and we’ve anticipated Japan closing its borders for at least a week.

Talk about bad planning and lack of contingency! FFS!

[Ruthless-RKO]

Why on earth they made the fight in Japan? They should have set it in the US to avoid such things.

These end of year Japan shows are huge apparently.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Sources - Gennadiy Golovkin-Ryota Murata postponed due to new COVID restrictions in Japan

Gennadiy Golovkin's wait to become a two-time unified champion will have to last a little longer.

Golovkin was slated to meet Ryota Murata in a middleweight title unification on Dec. 29 in Saitama, but the fight is now postponed, sources tell ESPN, due to new COVID restrictions that prohibit foreigners from visiting Japan.

The country's mandate was handed down Monday in an effort to combat the spread of the novel omicron variant. Officials hoped to obtain an exception for Golovkin from the Japanese government but were denied, sources said.

The Kazakhstan native has been training in Hollywood, Florida, for weeks in preparation for the bout. Officials plan to reschedule the bout in Japan next year, sources said.

Golovkin took to Twitter on Thursday night, writing, "I am deeply disappointed that fight in Japan has been postponed but the health and safety of the public must always be the priority. I look forward to returning to the ring against Ryota as soon as possible."

Golovkin, who turns 40 in April, is one of the biggest stars in boxing over the past 10 years. The menacing puncher was held to a controversial draw with Canelo Alvarez in their 2017 meeting before he dropped a narrow decision to the Mexican in the 2018 rematch.

Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) regained the title with a grueling victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko in October 2019, but has competed just once since.

Murata (16-2, 13 KOs) represented a chance for GGG to claim a second title and also grow his reach. The 35-year-old became a star in Japan after claiming a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics (Golovkin won silver in 2004).

Both boxers were set to end career-long layoffs. Murata, ESPN's No. 4 middleweight, hasn't entered the ring since December 2019. He regained the WBA middleweight title with a second-round TKO victory over Rob Brant in 2019, exacting revenge over the only man to beat him in the pros.

"I feel that my entire amateur and professional boxing career has been a preparation for this fight against Gennadiy Golovkin," Murata said in November. "This fight will determine my place in the middleweight division and boxing history.

"Gennadiy Golovkin has long been the standard-bearer of the middleweight division. To me, he is still undefeated. I have the highest respect for him."

Golovkin, ESPN's No. 2 160-pounder, last fought in December 2020.

[apollo creed]

Omicron may be more tougher than Covid19.

[giacomino]

Eff. I was really looking forward to GGG giving Murata a good hiding

[Bandog]

Why not do a different unification fight vs Charlo or Andrade? Winner can still fight Murata.

It seems odd that Murata couldn't go somewhere else to keep the fight on as scheduled.

[Perseus]

Why not do a different unification fight vs Charlo or Andrade? Winner can still fight Murata.

It seems odd that Murata couldn't go somewhere else to keep the fight on as scheduled.

Because GGG does not and never did have any intention of fighting either of them.
If he did, one or both of those fights would have already happened.

More money to be made fighting Murata in Japan.
The same thing that delayed this fight in Japan can potentially delay it anywhere in the world.

[margaret thatcher]

ya ggg a ducking b!tch! doing mall and demetrius dirty

[Bandog]

ya ggg a ducking b!tch! doing mall and demetrius dirty

GGG knows it's a bad style match up for him. That's why he fought guys like Wade, Rolls, Brook, Vanes, etc. He's smart.

[Evander]

I was looking forward to this one.

[Enlightened-One]

Ryota Murata will probably be forced to perform a mandatory defence of his WBA title against either Erislandy Lara or Chris Eubank Jr. next, because the Japanese fighter hasn’t fought for more than two years and he doesn’t have a legitimate reason to justify his inactivity.

Gennadiy Golovkin will probably be forced to perform a mandatory defence of his IBF title against either Patrick Wojcicki or Esquiva Falcao next, because the Kazakhstani fighter hasn’t fought for more than twelve months and he doesn’t have a legitimate reason to justify his inactivity.

Because after all, these guys are world champions that shouldn’t be allowed to hold their belts hostage via inexcusable inactivity, especially considering there are rules that need to be abided to, coupled with a lengthy queue of contenders patiently waiting for title shots.

And I have this awful feeling that the Golovkin-Murata bout will never happen, because one (or possibly both) of these inactive past-their-prime veterans will probably suffer an upset if they’re forced to face their mandatory challengers.

[apollo creed]

G vs Murata will probably happen in January or Feb bc it's a fight that would make big numbers. Eubank Jr and Lara would have to wait or fight each other.

[Enlightened-One]

G vs Murata will probably happen in January or Feb bc it's a fight that would make big numbers. Eubank Jr and Lara would have to wait or fight each other.

I like your optimism, but orchestrating the Golovkin-Murata bout has been a lengthy time-consuming process.

And a couple of weeks after it was officially confirmed, it was postponed due to poor planning and lack of contingency.

Anyway, I hope you’re right, but I suspect you’re wrong, based on what’s happened this year.

[Thomastearns]

Thank you Pfizer for showing us and all the governments and sanctioning bodies just who is the biggest boss.

The undisputed, unchallengeable champion of champions.

Clear message - get injected or you can't travel, compete or even watch.

Don't ask what these non-immunising injections actually do.

Curiosity killed more than the cat.

In other news - Convid / Plandemic /Omicron / Moronic remains unbeatable as concentration camps make a comeback in 2021.