Japan’s former world and Olympic boxing champion Ryota Murata yesterday announced his retirement, 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 medalist 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 in April last year when he fought Golovkin in Saitama, putting in a strong performance until the man known as “GGG” stopped him in the ninth round.
Photo: AFP
Murata told reporters in Tokyo he had “always thought that the Golovkin fight would be the last one.”
“After that, I couldn’t really find anything more that I wanted out of boxing,” local media quoted the 37-year-old as saying.
Murata retires with a professional record of 16-3, winning 13 by knockout.
He rose to stardom in his home country after beating Brazil’s Esquiva Falcao to win gold at the London Games, becoming Japan’s first Olympic boxing champion since 1964.
His humble, easy-going character won him friends in and out of the ring, and Golovkin presented him with his ring gown following their match as a mark of respect.
Murata said he wants to become “a good role model” now that his career is over.
“If you’re an athlete, once your dream comes true, you lose your enthusiasm,” he said. “Now I want to build a career and prove that life isn’t just about competition.”
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
Batting great Virat Kohli yesterday announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England. Kohli, who scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, posted his decision on Instagram five days after India captain Rohit Sharma called time on his own Test career. Since making his debut in 2011, Kohli struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out, mainly batting at number four in the order. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket,” the
RSS