TOKYO: Japan’s former world and Olympic boxing champion Ryota Murata announced his retirement on Tuesday, saying he had run out of challenges following his loss last year to Kazakh star Gennady Golovkin.
Murata became Japan’s first-ever Olympic middleweight gold medallist at the 2012 London Games before turning professional and capturing the WBA world title at the same weight five years later.
He was back in the global spotlight last April when he fought Golovkin in Saitama, north of Tokyo, putting in a strong performance until the man known as “GGG” stopped him in the ninth round.
Murata told reporters in Tokyo he had “always thought that the Golovkin fight would…
