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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
George Flood

Gennady Golovkin stops Ryota Murata to unify middleweight titles and throw down Canelo Alvarez challenge

Canelo Alvarez Gennady Golovkin Ryota Murata WBO Japan WBA

Gennady Golovkin unified the world middleweight titles by stopping Ryota Murata

(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

Gennady Golovkin did his part to set up a potential mammoth trilogy fight against Canelo Alvarez by knocking out Ryota Murata in Japan.

The great ‘GGG’ - who turned 40 on Friday - bounced back from an uncertain and sluggish start to Saturday’s main event at Saitama Super Arena, with his trademark power not diminished as he eventually took control of an otherwise competitive fight from the fifth round onwards and forced an emphatic stoppage with a succession of vicious shots in the ninth.

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