Last Sunday, Olympic gold medal winner Ryota Murata of Japan defeated Hassan N'Dam by technical knockout Sunday to capture the "regular" World Boxing Association middleweight title.
The 2012 Olympic champion avenged a controversial points loss to the Frenchman earlier this year with a convincing display in Tokyo, inflicting heavy punishment on N'Dam who failed to come out for round eight.
Their last meeting in May ended acrimoniously after N'Dam won a split decision even though Murata had largely dominated the fight and knocked his opponent down.
Two of the judges were suspended for six months while WBA president Gilberto Mendoza apologised to Murata, saying there were "no words to repair the damage".
With the stoppage of N'Dam, Murata improved his professional record to 13 wins against one loss and 10 knockouts.
While Murata is the "regular" champion, the WBA's "super' middleweight champion is Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs).
The World Boxing Association is working very hard to eliminate the issue of multiple world champions in various divisions, so at some point they will issue an order that directs Golovkin and Murata to fight in order to establish a single WBA champion at the weight.
Golovkin is the man that Murata wants most in 2018.
"I have strong desire to become the true champion of the world, enriching my worth and reputation. I secured a valuable victory and I strongly desire another. I am able to take the leap into the largest scenarios at a universal level," Murata said.
In a recent interview with BoxingScene.com, Murata's co-promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, said he was very interested in getting Murata in the ring with GGG in the upcoming year.
Golovkin, who also holds the IBF, IBO, WBC world titles, went to a controversial twelve round draw with Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez last month at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
There are ongoing discussions to do a rematch on Cinco De Mayo weekend, May 5th of next year.
The rematch is not set in stone, and Golovkin is viewed as the favorite if the second fight happens.
Arum and Murata are watching closely to see what happens in the Golovkin-Canelo rematch talks.