WBA Super world middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin prolonged his incredible run of knockout victories on Saturday night (February 21) in Monte Carlo, when he systematically broke down the gutsy challenge of England’s Martin Murray in eleven one-sided rounds.
Murray, 32, was bloodied and battered at the fight’s conclusion, and had been dropped twice in the fourth round and once in the tenth, but that didn’t deter him from throwing shots of his own or trying to win the fight. He kept going until the bitter end. It was a brave, spirited effort.
Golovkin, though, was just too good for pretty much the entirety of the fight. In fact, only in the second round – a round in which Murray got busy with both hands – did the affair ever look anything like competitive.
That’s not to say Murray was a disappointment, however. Quite the opposite, actually. He landed more shots on Golovkin through the course of ten-and-a-half rounds than perhaps any previous Golovkin opponent and also showed decent enough defence with his back against the ropes.
But, despite that, Golovkin, 32, found plenty of holes and was able to land big, hurtful shots in every one of the rounds they shared. Right hands to the body dropped Murray in the fourth, while a right to the head decked him in round ten. Everything Golovkin landed clean appeared to hurt.
To make matters worse, everything Murray landed on Golovkin – including sneaky right hand counters and body shots – ominously bounced off the sturdy Kazakh. At times it seemed Golovkin was happy for Murray to open up and land shots on him, if only because it then presented him with the chance to come back and land his own heavier artillery. Golovkin was clever. He was mean. He teased Murray with opportunities and then just as quickly snatched them away.
Then, with time running out, he got the very thing he wanted – a nineteenth straight stoppage win. It arrived at the 0.50 mark of round eleven and saw Murray cop two right hands and then find himself rescued under fire. He remained on his feet. He was Jake LaMotta to Golovkin’s Sugar Ray Robinson.
With the win, Golovkin moved to 32-0 (29 KOs) and now looks ahead to a potential middleweight title unification fight with Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto. Murray, meanwhile, lost absolutely nothing in defeat. Rather, in taking Golovkin further than anybody else, he merely confirmed his reputation as one of the very best middleweights in the world.
*** If you missed the Golovkin-Murray war, don’t fret. You can watch it here on Demand 5 ***
