Ryota Murata reclaims his title!
WBA “regular” middleweight champion Rob Brant was making the second title defense in traveling to the backyard of the man he beat in 2018; challenger Ryota Murata in Osaka, Japan.
This was a very important fight to Murata as the loss from the first fight had him contemplating an early retirement. It was the sense of not wanting to look back and realize he left the sport too early that drew him back in.
It ended up being the best decision the former Olympic Gold medalist would make!
In the beginning of the fight it was evident this wasn’t going to be anything like the first fight.
Both men started a blistering pace, throwing punches that sent the Japanese crowd into a frenzy.
The champion wanted to prove the first victory wasn’t a fluke. However, the big difference was the challenger didn’t just sit back and wait this time.
Inspired by the home crowd, the former champion pressed forward, going to the body and landing hard right hands repeatedly.
By the end of round one, it was apparent this wasn’t going the distance. Somebody was gonna give!
Murata would continue to land body shots in the second round. A combination concluded with a beautiful right hand uptop hurt the champion and had him staggering around the ring. With plenty time left in the round, Murata poured it on his wounded prey.
Brant finally went down after stumbling into the corner. He would beat the count, but couldn’t avoid the barrage that followed.
The logical thing for the champion was to hold, however, he neglected to do so which allowed the former champion to take advantage.
He would land another hard right that sent the champion staggering against the ropes.
This prompted the referee to immediately step in, stopping the fight. Some may feel the stoppage was premature, however, virtually the entire round involved Brant staggering all over the ring.
The referee actually gave the fighter from Minnesota more time to get himself out of trouble than most referees would have in the same scenario.
The crowd went wild as once again Murata would become a world champion.
Looking at the middleweight division, being the regular champion doesn’t bring many options, although, he is still considered one of the top brass of the division.
By: Garrisson Bland
