Japan's Ryota Murata beat champion Hassan N'Dam by technical knockout Sunday to capture the World Boxing Association middleweight title. The 2012 Olympic champion avenged a controversial points loss to the Frenchman earlier this year with a convincing display in Tokyo, inflicting heavy punishment on N'Dam who failed to come out for round eight.
"I'm not crying," joked Murata after bursting into tears on seeing the referee wave the fight over, making him only Japan's second middleweight world champion - and first in 22 years.
"I was surprised at the way the fight finished but I knew he was feeling the pace and wanted to finish the job quickly," added the 31-year-old, proudly cradling the WBA "regular" world belt. "We were both pretty tired so it's a bit lucky he stopped. But there was no way I was going to lose that fight."