Gennady Golovkin defended his WBA middleweight title successfully with a commanding performance against Britain’s Martin Murray on Saturday, stopping him in the 11th round of a one-sided contest.
Making his third title defense, Golovkin has stopped his last 19 opponents, and is unbeaten in 32 fights with 29 knockouts.
Murray withstood some heavy punishment and showed courage to try and trade with the hard-hitting Kazakh.
Golovkin put him down for the third time with a huge right hook in the 10th, but Murray beat the count and was saved by the bell.
It was only a temporary reprieve as Golovkin finished things off early in the 11th, and this time the referee stopped the contest.
Murray lost for the second time in his 32nd fight.
Three times in the opening three rounds, Murray dropped his hands and beckoned Golovkin on, but it was a bad idea.
With under one minute left in the third, Murray dropped on one knee after taking a heavy right cross just above the belt and with 20 seconds left he was down again after another heavy hit.
With blood streaming from his nose, Murray looked finished.
Yet his fifth round was better, and he caught Golovkin with rapid three-punch combination — although Golovkin got through with two uppercuts of his own.
Given the amount of punishment he took, Murray showed great stamina to keep going.
He even had to backpedal at speed in the eighth as Golovkin unleashed a flurry of punches. He took two huge left hooks right at the end of the round and just made it to the ninth, which was even until Golovkin just shaded it at the end.
Against the ropes again, he could not withstand Golovkin’s 11th-round assault as he was stopped for the first time.
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