Fighting a day after turning 40, Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin overcame a few rough patches to break down and stop Ryota Murata in Saitama, Japan. In the process, GGG acquired another middleweight title belt – a belt that he had previously owned – but more relevantly kept the door open for a third meeting with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. If Canelo performs as expected against Dmitry Bivol on May 7, GGG-Canelo III is expected to unfold in mid-September, likely in Las Vegas, on Mexican Independence Day Weekend. Barring unforeseen developments, the trilogy fight will be contested at 168 pounds.

Golovkin looked his age at times during the early portion of the fight, particularly in rounds two, three and four when Murata nailed him with some hard punches to the body. But GGG was never in serious trouble and seized the momentum in the middle rounds. In the sixth, he knocked out Murata’s mouthpiece and from there it was all downhill for the Japanese. His corner rescued him from further punishment in the ninth frame after GGG put him down with a counter right hook. The official time was 2:11.

GGG-Canelo won’t be a true rubber match because their first meeting ended in a draw. However, in the minds of many people their series is deadlocked at 1-1. Canelo’s victory in their second encounter remains the only blemish on GGG’s record. With his win tonight in Saitama, the brilliant Kazakh, who is Korean on his mother’s side, advanced his record to 42-1-1 (37 KOs). Murata, a former Olympic gold medalist, declined to 16-3.

Other Bouts

Junto Nakatani dominated brave but overmatched Ryota Yamauchi en route to an eighth-round stoppage. The 24-year-old Nakatani (23-0, 18 KOs) was making the second defense of his WBO world flyweight title.

Yamauchi, who entered the match with an 8-1 record and had knocked out seven opponents, was in over his head. Nakatani’s American trainer Rudy Hernandez has said that Nakatani is the best fighter that he has ever trained. (Hernandez is the brother of the late Genaro “Chicanito” Hernandez who fought the likes of Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather.)

This was likely Nakatani’s last bout at 112. The talent is stronger in the next weight class up. Potential showdowns between Nakatani and Juan Francisco Estrada and/or Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez are mouth-watering.

In a bout sanctioned for a regional lightweight title, long-reigning Japanese national lightweight champion Shuichiro Yoshino (15-0, 11 KOs) moved up in class and won a hard-fought technical decision over former WBO world super featherweight title-holder Masayuki Ito (27-4-1). The end came in round 11 after an accidental clash of heads forced the bout to the scorecards.

The ringside physician almost halted this action-packed rumble after round 10. Ito had a bad cut over his left eye and had been bleeding from his nose for most of the fight. The clash of heads caused him to bend over in obvious pain, dictating a “time out,” and the bout wasn’t resumed. At the time of the stoppage, Yoshino was ahead on all three cards: 106-103 and 107-102 twice.

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In boxing, it never rains but it pours. Last weekend was dead. There were no fights of major significance. Tomorrow (Saturday, April 9) all three leading networks – Showtime, ESPN, and DAZN – have compelling offerings and they will be going head-to-head.

The Showtime tripleheader, which will air from the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, has a central theme. All six fighters on the TV portion of the card campaign in the 154-pound division. And judging by the prevailing odds, all three bouts will be competitive. (Kudos to the fan-friendly matchmaker.)

A bout between southpaws Erickson Lubin (24-1, 17 KOs) and Sebastian Fundora (18-0-1, 12 KOs) tops the bill. It’s being packaged as a WBC interim title fight with the winner theoretically poised to get the next shot at the winner of the May 14 match between Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano.

Lubin will be rooting for Charlo. He would love to get another crack at the man that saddled him with his lone defeat. Charlo knocked him out in the opening round with one punch, a picture-perfect right hand that brought a shocking conclusion to what had been a feeling-out round.

Since that mishap in 2017, Lubin, 26, has won six straight. He will dress as the favorite vs. Sebastian Fundora who has attracted early money, depressing the odds to 3/2.

Fundora, like Lubin a native Floridian, has been living and training in Coachella, CA, but moved his camp to Las Vegas for this bout. He stands six-foot-six, hence his nickname, “The Towering Inferno.”

Lubin vs. Fundora will be preceded by a 10-round match between Sergio Garcia (33-1, 14 KOs) and Tony Harrison (28-3-1, 21 KOs). Garcia, a 29-year-old Spaniard, will be looking to rebound from his lone defeat which he suffered at the hands of Fundora in what was his U.S. debut.

The oddsmakers like his chances. He opened a 5/2 favorite over Detroit’s Harrison, a third-generation prizefighter who briefly held the WBC version of this belt. (Old-timers will remember Harrison’s grandfather Henry Hank, a hard-punching middleweight who appeared numerous times on television during the early 1960s.)

The opening bout of the telecast pits Bryant Perrella (17-3-1, 14 KOs) against Kevin Zambrano (14-0, 9 KOs).

Perrella, a 33-year-old southpaw from Fort Myers, Florida, is better than his record. In his most memorable fight, he out-boxed Abel Ramos for nine rounds only to unravel in the final minute of the contest and get stopped with one second remaining in the bout. In his last outing, he battled Tony Harrison to a 12-round draw. It was his first start with new trainer Roy Jones Jr.

Zambrano, from Mexico City, has been training in San Antonio. Something of a mystery fighter — this is his U.S. debut – he is the younger brother of Carlos Salgado Zambrano, a former two-time world super featherweight champion.

Costa Mesa, CA

The Hanger, an exposition center and concert hall at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, will be the site of Top Rank’s offering on ESPN. Top Rank has been here before, most notably on March 23, 2019, when Kubrat Pulev celebrated his TKO of Bogdan Dinu by kissing a female reporter which caused a big snit.

Former U.S. Olympian Mikaela Mayer (16-0, 5 KOs) is the headline attraction. She defends her WBO and IBF world featherweight titles against El Paso veteran Jennifer Han (18-4-1, 1 KO).

San Diego southpaw Giovani Santillan (28-0, 15 KOs) meets Colombia’s Jeovanis Barrera (23-2, 15 KOs) in the co-feature and both Moloney twins will appear in supporting bouts.

The popular Aussies – Jason is a bantamweight and Andrew a super flyweight – sport identical 22-2 records. Jason Moloney opposes Tijuana’s Francisco Pedraza-Portillo (17-10-2, 10 KOs) in a scheduled 10-rounder. His twin brother opposes Modesto, CA journeyman Gilberto Mendoza (19-11-3, 10 KOs) in a bout slated for eight.

U.S. Olympians Duke Ragan and Virginia “Ginny” Fuchs will also be in action. It’s the fifth pro fight for Ragan (4-0, 1 KO), a silver medalist in Tokyo. The 34-year-old Fuchs, an LSU grad with a compelling back story, will be making her pro debut.

San Antonio

The return of undefeated Ryan Garcia who has been out of action for 15 months is the main allurement of the Golden Boy Promotions show at the Alamodome on DAZN. Garcia, a big star on social media with a large female following, opposes Ghana’s Emmanuel Tagoe. (For more on this fight, check out David Avila’s pre-fight report.)

Garcia vs. Tagoe, a 12-rounder, is braced by an exceptionally strong undercard that includes five 10-round fights. In addition to the co-feature, an intriguing super middleweight clash between Gabriel Rosado and Shane Mosley Jr, Brazil’s Patrick Teixeira, a former world super welterweight title-holder, and super bantamweight Azat Hovhannisyan, a former world title challenger, will appear in separate bouts.

Hovhannisyan, from LA by way of Armenia, has won six straight since suffering a loss on points to undefeated Rey Vargas, the reigning WBC world title-holder. He will oppose 15-1 Dagoberto Aguerro from the Dominican Republic.

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The good news is that tomorrow’s lid-lifter will run unopposed. The bad news is that one will have to get up at an ungodly early hour to monitor the developments in Saitama, Japan, where Gennadiy Golovkin meets Ryota Murata in a bout where the stakes are huge.

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When you look at Ryan “KingRy” Garcia you see all the ingredients of a mega star in the making, just not those of a prizefighter.

Hunched back, slightly tilted nose, missing teeth or slovenly look are not things one can check off the list of Garcia.

Hollywood stardom is more his calling say critics, not world of boxing.

Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) aims to disprove all those naysayers when he meets Ghana’s Emmanuel Tagoe (32-1, 15 KOs) on Saturday April 9, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. DAZN will stream the stacked Golden Boy Promotions card.

More than 15 months have passed since Garcia traded calculating blows with England’s Luke Campbell at another part of Texas. In that fight he was floored for the first time in his pro career and he immediately got up.

That knockdown could be the spark that leads the Southern California product to the top.

So far Garcia has fought the B+ fighters in the boxing universe where fighters are missing a key element or two such as a knockout punch, speed, endurance, strength, strategy or heart. Some fighters can lack one or two of these elements and still be a world champion. The A class fighters possess almost all these necessary pugilistic ingredients.

Tagoe insists he’s an A class fighter that only needs a chance to prove his talent.

“Nobody wants to fight me,” said Tagoe when he was in Los Angeles. “This is my opportunity to prove myself.”

In Tagoe’s very first pro fight at age 15, he stumbled and lost to another Ghanian fighter, Lante Addy, making his pro debut. After that loss by decision, he’s yet to lose again despite fighting for 18 more years.

“I see this fight as an opportunity for me,” said Tagoe who is promoted by DiBella Entertainment. “Now everybody will know me.”

Millions of people know Garcia on social media platforms, 8 million on Instagram alone. Since fighting professionally in the U.S. the Victorville, Calif. prizefighter with movie star looks has caught the eye of female fans, and his lightning-fast fists caught the eye of male boxing fans.

For various reasons Garcia has been unable to perform in the prize ring since beating Campbell at Dallas, Texas on January 2021. And since that time many changes have taken place including switching boxing trainers and gyms. No longer with Eddy Reynoso at San Diego, a move to Van Nuys, California has Garcia working under the tutelage of famed trainer Joe Goossen.

Anybody involved in the boxing game knows the Goossens. The name signifies boxing royalty, family loyalty and is responsible for bringing some of the best fighters ever seen in Southern California.

Goossen seems almost giddy with restraint.

“I’ve worked with world champions that had far less talent than Ryan,” said Goossen who mentored Diego Corrales, Joel Casamayor, Rafael Ruelas, Gabe Ruelas and Michael Nunn among many others.

Garcia comes from a tight-knit family that was always around boxing since he was a pre-teen. His younger brother Sean Garcia also boxed in the amateurs and his sisters followed both their brothers’ journeys from amateurs to pros. Boxing has been intertwined in their lives for decades.

Since arriving on the professional fight scene the lanky, dimpled fighter has blazed his way to stardom with dazzling highlight film knockouts that needed to be seen in slow-motion to be appreciated.

While training with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez he seemed to learn or acquire more restraint in talking about his foes, but when the time arrives the cloak of silence is ripped off and his words flow freely. It’s almost like being able to finally take a breath after being under water.

“I know he has been saying that facing me will be easy. But I can say one thing, my job is to not make his life easy in that ring. Fans should be ready to see me give this fight everything I got. If he can take a shot, it will be a good fight. If he can’t, he will be out of there very quick,” Garcia said with frankness.

On Saturday both Garcia and Tagoe seek to prove they belong among the A class fighters of the world.

“I can’t wait for Saturday. I’m going to show everyone,” said Tagoe.

“I just love to fight and just be better than the person in front of me,” said Garcia.

It’s the main event on a strong card.

World title Fight

In the co-main event WBA flyweight world titlist Naoko Fujioka fights WBC flyweight world titlist Marlen Esparza in a unification battle that also gives the winner the Ring Magazine championship.

If you know anything about women’s championship fights, they always seem to live up to expectations. The one drawback is that they are two-minute rounds, not three-minute rounds like the men.

Fujioka (19-2-1, 7 Kos) has won world titles in five different weight divisions including wins over Mariana “Barby” Juarez, Yokasta Valle and Shindo Go. She’s long been one of the best female fighters in the world.

“I’m so excited for this fight. It doesn’t matter to me that I’m in her hometown. I wanted to get a bigger name. I am here to represent Japan,” said Fujioka.

Esparza (11-1) has fought since childhood and earned a bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympics and has proven to be fearless as a professional with wins over Ibeth Zamora and Anabel Ortiz. This fight with Fujioka once again proves that fearlessness.

“I’m going to put on a show, it’s going to be a good night,” said Esparza.

Gabe and Shane

Super middleweights Gabe Rosado (26-14-1, 15 KOs) and Shane Mosley Jr. (17-4, 10 KOs) are set to battle 10 rounds.

Rosado has become a fan favorite with his ability to wreck plans of young contenders with his array of skills and experience.

Mosley, the son of the great “Sugar” Shane Mosley, has risen to contender status with a toughness and grit that his dad possessed. Can he out-tough Rosado?

Photo credit: Tom Hogan / Hogan Photos / Golden Boy Promotions

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