By Rishad Marquardt: The WBA regular middleweight champion Hassan N’Dam and number one contender Ryota Murata signed their official fight contract today at the Hotel Grand Palace ahead of their rematch taking place at Ryogoku Kokugikan on Sunday.
Ryota Murata
Hassan N’Dam vs. Ryota Murata – Results
By Jim Dower: In something of a surprise, #1 WBA Hassan N’Dam (34-2, 21 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten #2 WBA Ryota Murata (12-1, 9 KOs) by a controversial 12 round split decision on Saturday night to capture the vacant WBA World middleweight title at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan. The judges scored the fight 116-111, 115-112 for N’Dam, and 117-110 for Ryota.
Ryota Murata vs. Hassan N’Dam on May 20
By Dan Ambrose: 2012 Olympic gold medalist Ryota Murata (12-0, 10 KOs) hasn’t faced any live bodies since turning pro in 2013, but that’s still not stopping him from fighting for the vacant WBA World middleweight title against Hassan N’Dam (35-2, 21 KOs) at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan. Murata and N’Dam are going to be fighting for the WBA title that was recently in possession of Daniel Jacobs. He lost the title when he was beaten by Gennady Golovkin by a 12 round unanimous decision on March 18 of this year.
Ryota Murata vs. Bruno Sandoval – Results
By Jim Dower: Undefeated #3 WBO middleweight contender Ryota Murata (12-0, 9 KOs) made short work of an over-matched Bruno Sandoval (19-2-1, 15 KOs), stopping him in round 3 on Friday night at the Ariake Colosseum, in Tokyo, Japan.
Murata, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist from Japan, dropped Sandoval with a beautiful chopping right hand to the head in the 3rd round. The badly hurt Sandoval attempted to get back to his feet on three occasions, but fell down each time.