Ryota Murata, the first Japanese boxer to win both Olympic gold and a professional world championship, confirmed Tuesday that he was hanging up his gloves “with no regrets”.
“It took me a long time to make the decision, but I couldn’t find anything more I wanted out of boxing,” the 37-year-old said at a press conference in Tokyo.
Murata signalled his retirement following his ninth-round technical knockout loss to Kazakh star Gennadiy Golovkin in their April 2022 middleweight title unification bout.
“I think that’s the last time for me,” Murata said following that bout at Saitama Super Arena.
Murata won Japan’s first Olympic boxing gold in 48 years when he was crowned men’s middleweight champion at the 2012 London Games. — Kyodo