By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda
Dethroned WBA middleweight champ, 2012 Olympic gold medalist and our national hero Ryota Murata (14-2, 11 KOs) made a public announcement on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan that he would go on fighting to regain the belt either in the 160-pound or 168-pound category.
Murata, 32, forfeited his WBA throne to mandatory challenger Rob Brant via upset verdict in Las Vegas this October.
Ryota said, “When the fight was over, I once thought I would retire from boxing. Then my determination was 98 percent sure. Should I hang up gloves after that fight, I would repent of my decision in the future. It’s because I won’t make the Brant bout my last performance.”
Before some one hundred press people and ten television cameras Murata determinedly said, “I’d like to climb up to the ring with the world belt on the line again.” We wish his second coronation. Good luck.
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