By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

WBA middleweight champ Ryota Murata (16-2, 13 KOs), Japan, retained his belt as he kept stalking Canada’s Steven Butler (28-2-1, 24 KOs), 160, and finally caught up with him, dropping him to score a fine TKO victory a 2:45 of the fifth round before some 9,500 spectators on Monday in Yokohama, Japan.

Butler fought well, making good use of his hand speed and footwork. But Murata patiently went forward with his solid left-right combinations, and accelerated his attack from the third onward. The fatal fifth saw Murata explode a vicious attack and sink Butler, 24, with a left hook followed by an effective combination. The referee Rafael Ramos (US) made a well-time stoppage and saved Butler from further punishment.

Before the trick happened, Raul Caiz Sr. (US) and Ignacio Robles (Panama) saw it 39-37, and Pinit Prayadsab (Thailand) had it 40-36, all in Ryota’s favor.

The jubilant victor Ryota said, “I was tremendously in good shape in the dressing room, and then thought I would win by a knockout. But my confidence made me stiff and too much eager to finish him. I have to reflect that, but I could cope with Butler’s aggressiveness in earlier rounds. His jabs were stronger than expected, but I took back the pace and initiative. I have established my style and will fight anybody now. I wish to fight a “real” opposition.”

What does he mean by a “real” counterpart? It might be Canelo Alvarez or Gennadiy Golovkin, as suggested by Bob Arum, 88, who was in attendance at the Yokohama Arena. He said, “Before or after the Olympic Games here in Tokyo, we plan to stage a big promotion of Murata against either Canelo or GGG at the Tokyo Dome (the capacity of which is 55,000 as Mike Tyson fought Tony Tubbs in 1988).

The 2012 Olympic gold medalist and two-time WBA world champion Murata is a vastly well-known national hero, who may demonstrate a big thing in 2020. We do hope so.

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