Ryōta Murata

Amateur career

Murata started boxing in the first grade of junior high school. His then trainer was Hiroaki Takami who competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Two years later, he regularly attended Shinko Boxing Gym in Osaka from his home in Nara City. He was trained under the former Japanese super lightweight champion Hiromu Kuwata at that gym for one year. He proceeded to Minami-Kyoto High School and there was coached by Maekawa Takemoto (died in 2010 at the age of fifty) who served as the coach of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta to capture five national titles. However, after admission to Toyo University, he suffered a number of DQ losses in the university league. At that time, he went for training to the Physical Training School of the Self Defense Forces, on the recommendation of Takemoto. In those days, in Thailand where he traveled for a match, he saw children earnestly training and regained his enthusiasm for boxing.

After winning the All-Japan Amateur Boxing Championships in the first grade of university in 2004, he captured the bronze medal in the 2005 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships in Ho Chi Minh City, and the silver medal in the 2005 King’s Cup in Bangkok. Since then, although he is undefeated in his country, winning the All-Japan Amateur Boxing Championships also in 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011, he was eliminated in the preliminary round by Nikolajs Grisunins in the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Mianyang, China, and also eliminated in the preliminary round by Bakhtiyar Artayev in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. In the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Chicago, the United States, he won against Donatas Bondorovas in the first round, but lost to Shawn Estrada in the second round.

In the 1st AIBA Asian 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, he won over Narmandakh Shinebayar in the quarterfinal to get the third place, and lost to Elshod Rasulov in the semifinal. In the 2nd AIBA Asian 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan, he was eliminated in the quarterfinal by Homayoun Amiri and ended in the seventh place. Then Murata had retired as a boxer. After graduating from the university, he had been coaching at the boxing club while working as an employee of his alma mater. A year and a half later, he resumed his own career.

Murata got married in May 2010, and they had a son in May 2011. In 2010, he secured the bronze medal by winning over Udai Al-Hindawi in the quarterfinal of the China Open Tournament in Guiyang, China, and lost to Husan Baymatov in the semifinal. In the Republic of Kazakhstan President's Cup in Astana of the same year, he won over Levan Guledani in the preliminary round, but lost to Danabek Suzhanov in the quarterfinal. In July 2011, he won the gold medal in the 21st President's Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, Murata won over Leandro Sanchez (24–11, in the round of 128), the two-time AIBA World Champion Abbos Atoev (RSC, in the first round), and Mohammad Sattarpour (22–11, in the second round). He subsequently defeated Stefan Härtel (18–15, in the third round) and qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics with that victory. Then he won over Darren O'Neill (18–9, in the quarterfinal) and Esquiva Florentino (24–11, in the semifinal), and finally lost to Evhen Khytrov (22–24, in the final) to secure the silver medal.

Olympic results

In the 2012 Summer Olympics, second-seeded Murata defeated Algeria's Abdelmalek Rahou 21–12 in the round of 16 at the ExCeL London on August 2, 2012. He subsequently beat Turkey's Adem Kılıççı 17–13 in the quarter-finals on August 6, and also outpointed Uzbekistan's Abbos Atoev 13–12 in the semi-finals on August 10. In the final on August 11, he beat the Brazilian Esquiva Florentino with a score of 14–13 and took the gold medal. After winning the quarter-finals, Murata and Florentino were both assured of the first men's boxing medal for their countries since the 1968 Summer Olympics. It was a tough, close bout.

Murata is the hundredth gold medalist for Japan in their Olympic history. It is Japan's first boxing gold medal since Takao Sakurai won in the bantamweight class in 1964, and also is the first-ever boxing medal in a weight class other than bantamweight or flyweight.

The Brazilian Olympic Committee had asked the International Boxing Association (AIBA) for a review of the final, but the AIBA turned down the request.

Murata finished his amateur career with a record of 119–18 (89 RSC).

Professional career

Murata registered with Misako Boxing Gym in April 2013, and signed with Top Rank in June. He also asked Teiken Promotions for cooperation in promotion. Dentsu's funds made these happen. But the pro-am relationship that was about to be repaired was damaged again. Before these, Murata had declined participation in AIBA Professional Boxing by letter saying that he intended to retire as a boxer. So, when he suddenly started saying he wanted to turn professional, Murata was banned from Japan Amateur Boxing Federation (JABF) for his disloyal behavior in February 2013.

Qualified as a light heavyweight professional boxer in April 2013, he has been allowed to fight in eight or more round bouts. His professional debut took place in a six round 161 pound bout against Akio Shibata at Ariake Coliseum on August 25, 2013. Murata won the bout by a second round technical knockout.