WBA 160lb champ Murata headed to US next summer

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Boxing Beat

It is customary in Japan that a newly crowned world champion engages in a press conference with the media on the next day of his coronation. The new WBA middleweight titlist Ryota Murata replied to our press people’s questions, and reviewed his impressive victory last night. Murata appeared in a television program early in the morning since he became a national hero again as he once did so in the Olympic Games in London in 2012.

“I applied the pressure to N’Dam from the start of the fight and it worked well. My combinations coupled with body shots were certainly so effective that N’Dam seemed to have difficulty to breathe smoothly. So I was going to accelerate my attack to hurt him more, and he abruptly quit. I wish to have my name known in the world from now on since I’m still less known and less evaluated by the international boxing world.”

Teiken Promotions’ president and promoter Akihiko Honda, after his brilliant victory, said, “Murata will make his initial defense in Japan next spring, and then appear in the US ring with Top Rank next summer.”

Murata has truly become a biggest name in boxing here in Japan in one night. The audience ratings of Murata winning the belt were as high as 20 percent among other broadcasts of the national election returns. We previously exported to the States our leading baseball players such as Nomo, Ichiro, Darvish, Tanaka, Maeda, etc. and our outstanding boxer such as Naoya Inoue. The next export will be Murata.