Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has issued a warning to Gennady Golovkin heading into his Ryota Murata fight this weekend.

After over a year out of the ring, the great Gennady Golovkin will officially make his return on Saturday night when he battles Ryota Murata at Saitama Super Arena in Japan.

The big question is whether or not Golovkin, who turns 40 on Friday, still has the same pop in his punches and granite chin that made him such a force of nature in his prime.

Kazakhstan’s favourite sporting son knows he’s heading into enemy territory but when you take one look at his body of work, it’s not hard to understand why he’s such an overwhelming favourite.

During an appearance on The DAZN Boxing Show, Eddie Hearn provided his own commentary on how he thinks it could all go down.

"I think this is a really, dangerous, tough fight on so many different levels," Hearn said.

"We talked about Shields going to the UK, this is Gennadiy going to Japan, but this is a very inactive Gennadiy Golovkin.

"If you’re ever going to fight Gennadiy Golovkin, this is the time to do it.

"Is the fear factor evaporating from Gennadiy Golovkin?" Hearn said. 

"I think the mindset of Murata now compared to the mindset of Murata three or four years ago is ‘I can win this fight and I’m not afraid to mix it up.’

"What does Gennadiy Golovkin have left? Power is the last thing to go, are the feet going to start slowing down, is he going to get hit more because he used to get hit quite a lot."

"If we see a prime Gennadiy Golovkin, then the trilogy for the undisputed super middleweight championship between Canelo and GGG is a monster."

The trilogy elephant

Hearn mentioned it in passing and you can bet it’s an ever-present thought in the mind of Gennady Golovkin.

After two bouts with Canelo Alvarez, in which he lost once and drew once under controversial circumstances, GGG could get the chance to run it back with his Mexican rival this September - so long as he can get past Murata.