Ryota Murata: record, next fight and profile →
NEW YORK – Gennadiy Golovkin knows a difficult fight awaits him October 5. If Golovkin gets past Sergiy Derevyanchenko, however, he is more than willing to travel to Japan to box Ryota Murata. That would technically be a middleweight title unification bout between Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (39-1-1, 35 KOs), who would hold the IBF title, and Japan’s Murata (15-2, 12 KOs), who owns the WBA’s secondary 160-pound championship.
News of Ryota Murata’s potential next fight certainly caught many by surprise. Chief among them were the boxer and his team who believed to still be next in line. In a development reported by ESPN’s Steve Kim, Hall of Fame promoter mapped out a scenario where Murata would make the first defense of his second run as a middleweight titlist in a December showdown versus Australia’s Jeff Horn. The proposed bout would take place in Murata’s native Japan, provided that Horn—a former welterweight titlist now competing at 160—survives an Aug. 31 domestic clash with countryman Michael Zerafa.
This past Saturday night, at a hotel in the city of Osaka, Japan, there was a press conference in which the flamboyant "regular" middleweight champion of the World Boxing Association (WBA) and gold medalist in the 2012 London Olympics, Ryota Murata (15-2, 12KOs), discussed his revenge victory over Rob Brant.
As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, London Olympic gold medalist Ryota Murata regained his WBA "regular" middleweight championship Friday with a second-round technical knockout in a rematch with American Rob Brant.
This is how Ryota Murata expected the first fight to go. The 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist from Japan managed to get it right the second time around, avenging a title-losing effort to Rob Brant with a 2nd round stoppage in their ESPN+ streamed rematch Friday evening at EDION Arena in Osaka, Japan. Murata floored Brant midway through a dominant round two before closing the show at 2:34 of the same round to reclaim the secondary title he conceded just nine months ago.
Same weight. Defending world champion Rob Brant of Texas, USA, and Japanese challenger former titlist and Olympic gold medalist Ryota Murata scaled-in at identical 159.25 pounds (72.3 Kilos) ahead of their main event rumble for the regular WBA Middleweight World title tomorrow Friday, July 12, at the EDION Arena in Osaka, Japan.
Rob Brant will make the second defense of his WBA middleweight world title against the man he defeated to win the belt, Ryota Murata, at EDION Arena Osaka in Osaka, Japan.
Rob Brant will defend his WBA "regular" middleweight title for the second time on Friday. Standing across the ring from him in Osaka, Japan will be Ryota Murta. The fight will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Rob Brant (25-1) isn't the least bit worried about the judging in his July 12th rematch against Ryota Murata (14-2) in Osaka, Japan. Brant won a dominant decision over Murata in Las Vegas last October to capture the WBA "regular" title and plans on performing even better in the rematch.
Rob Brant Training Camp Photos Gallery - Rob “Bravo” Brant and Ryota Murata have a painful shared history. They waged a toe-to-toe battle last October in Las Vegas that saw Brant wrest the WBA middleweight title away from Murata via unanimous decision. (photos by Naoki Fukuda).