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Home > Match Information > WBA middleweight champ Murata opens his heart as fight with GGG only few days away

WBA middleweight champ Murata opens his heart as fight with GGG only few days away

Apr 05, 2022 23:22 pm

World Boxing Association middleweight ‘’super’’ champion Ryota Murata of Teiken Boxing Gym opened his heart in written form on Apr. 5, only four days before his showdown with International Boxing Federation middleweight champion Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin of Kazakhstan on Apr. 9 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama Prefecture.

This is because a usual type of public workout was not held due to fears about the novel coronavirus infections.

The following are the question-and-answer session between mass media and Murata:

Question: Now that Golovkin is in Japan. How do you feel about that?
Answer: I am in my final stage of preparations for the fight since our weigh-ins are only three days away. Of course, I have some fear of him and feelings of nervousness. Had it not been for my opponent being another person, I would probably not have felt this way. Fighting with Golovkin makes me very nervous more so than before.

Q: Aside from the above question, it will be your first fight in two years and four months. What do you think about that?
A: I don’t want any more postponement (of the fight like in the past) due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. It’s my earnest hope. I have this kind of down-to-earth matter.

Q: Are you preparing to wear special items in terms for example of your shoes and trunks in your fight with Golovkin?
A: I have never prepared those kinds of things myself in my mast fight either. The same is true for the coming fight.

Q: You have been staying at a hotel for the time being. How often do you get in touch with your family members and in what form? Is that encouraging?
A: Mainly, we use a video call. Yes, it’s very encouraging. Honestly, I feel I want to go back to see them directly. But since I have been staying at the hotel for about a month, I sometimes notice my children have grown up big (through the video call).

Q: Living alone at the hotel, have you had a moment of thinking back the past two years (during your ‘’absence from the ring’’)?
A: No. not in the past two years per se. But looking at the scenery in Tokyo through a hotel window, including Tokyo Tower, I sometimes look back on my boxing life. When I was a child, I visited various places in Tokyo during a school trip. But I have never ever imagined that I will soon appear on stage of this magnitude. Tu put it differently, I think I have had a dream come true. At that time, I never imagined I would lead a life like this (as a boxer).
Golovkin, popularly known as GGG who will turn 40 on Apr. 8, has a record of 41 wins, including 36 KOs, against a loss and a draw, while the 36-year-old Murata has a 16-2 win-loss tally with 13 KOs.
Photo by Teiken Boxing Gym

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