Roughly a year after his last (title) fight with Gennady Golovkin, 37-year old Japanese Middleweight, Ryota Murata, has decided to retire from the sport of boxing after a career of nearly nine years. A steadfast 160-pounder, Murata completes a noteworthy professional career that saw him net only three losses during his career, of which he revenged two of them.
Retiring with a record of 16-3 and 13 KO’s, Ryota Murata proved himself to be one of the best Japanese fighters in the higher weight classes. Mostly known for his power, inside game and deadly combinations, Murata was regarded as one of the most dangerous fighters at 160 lbs, even before he won his first world title. The Japanese Middleweight further had a decorated amateur history that saw him become an Olympic gold medalist during the 2012 Olympics, a multi-year national champion and a top-placed finisher in other international amateur boxing competitions.
Following his memorable career in the amateurs, Murata set out to prove himself as a professional and he made his debut on August 25th in 2013. The Olympic gold medalist proved his mettle early on by facing solely fighters with winning records which saw him become regarded as a contender within two/three years.
After twelve successful pro fights from 2013 to 2016, Murata was put to the test in his first world title opportunity in 2017 against Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam for the WBA ‘Regular’ Middleweight belt, and the Japanese fighter suffered an unfortunate — and controversial — split-decision loss to the Frenchman. Later that same year in October, Murata avenged his first career loss with an abrasive stoppage victory over N’Jikam to win the WBA ‘Regular’ title which made him become a world champion in the process.
Murata defended his title in April of 2018 before shockingly losing it later in October of that year to American Rob Brant. This loss was also quickly revenged in July of 2019 and again culminated in Murata stopping his opponent (in just the second round of their contest) which made him a two-time world champion.
After another stoppage victory over Steven Butler (32-3-1, 26 KO’s) in December of 2019, a relatively long hiatus followed — partially due to the COVID pandemic — which left Ryota Murata out of the ring for nearly three years before went on to face WBA ‘Super’ Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KO’s). They met on the 9th of April in 2022 in a unification bout of the ‘Super’ and ‘Regular’ titles, the latter of which Murata held. Despite the Japanese boxer giving off a tough performance — even after being out for two years — that forced Golovkin to draw out every bit of his ability, he was unable to handle the Kazakhstani’s onslaught later on and fell to a stoppage loss to Golovkin in the 9th round of their fight that was hosted in Murata’s own home country of Japan at the Saitama Super Arena.
Murata’s accomplishment as an amateur and professional boxer has rightfully made him regarded as one of the best Japanese boxers of his era. Though mostly overshadowed by Japanese contemporary Naoya Inoue (24-0, 21 KO’s), Ryota Murata has had no less of a significant career and has closed the chapter of his boxing days appropriately after facing a future Hall of Famer in Gennady Golovkin.
He will surely go down in history as one of the best — if not the best — Japanese Middleweight to ever grace the sport, and he remains a sure-fire candidate to be included in the International Boxing Hall of Fame at some point over the next couple of years.
