Bob Arum: Ryota Murata vs. Esquiva Falcao Could Be Next

While WBA “regular” middleweight champion Ryota Murata has found great in the pros, his next fight could be a rematch from the biggest fight of his career in the amateur ranks.

After Top Rank Boxing, who co-promotes Murata, broadcast Murata’s first world title defense, an eighth-round knockout win over EBU middleweight champion Emanuele Blandamura, promoter Bob Arum spoke to BoxingScene.com about Murata’s next fight. Arum said Murata could face off against Brazilian middleweight contender Esquiva Falcao. The two have history with each other as Murata narrowly defeated Falcao in the gold medal fight of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

“The fight that everybody wants to see is Murata against the Brazilian kid, who we promote as well. He won the silver medal in the Olympiad where Murata won the gold. Murata beat him by one point, so that would be a great matchup in the pros. There would tremendous interest in that fight, particularly in Japan and Brazil,” Arum said.

Murata became an instant star in his native Japan, winning his first 12 fights before getting a chance to fight for the then-vacant WBA “regular” middleweight title. Murata lost to Hassan N’Dam in controversial fashion, but won the title in a rematch last October. As the WBA’s secondary world champion at 160 pounds, a possible fight against “super” champion Gennady Golovkin looms over the horizon as the governing body has made it its mission to reduce the number of world titles per weight classes, meaning WBA “regular” and “super” must eventually fight to create a singular WBA world champion.

After losing to Murata in 2012, Falcao has spent the majority of his pro career fighting in the United States. After starting his career fight as a super middleweight and junior middleweight, Falcao settled in at middleweight as a pro, where he has amassed a 20-0 record. Falcao last fought in March, when he knocked out Salim Larbi in the first round of their fight.