Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images
On Saturday, May 20, 2017, Hassan N’Dam (36-3, 21 KOs) scored a controversial split decision victory against Ryota Murata (12-1, 9 KOs) to capture a version of the WBA Middleweight title at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan.
The 12-round fight will be televised tonight in the U.S. via same-day tape delay on beIN Sports Español.
N’Dam, a 33-year-old resident of France, previously held the WBO Middleweight title but lost it in his first defense against Peter Quillin in 2012. Since then, he has had one previous title shot, against David Lemieux in 2015, but lost via unanimous decision.
Murata, after winning a Gold medal in the 2012 Olympics, scored 12 consecutive wins in his short career before tonight’s fight. Today was for a silly version of the WBA title currently held by unified champion Gennady Golovkin, though this was indeed a step up in competition for Murata.
The 31-year-old native of Japan scored a scored a knockdown in Round 4 with a hard right hand, and did a lot of hard work to the body. N’Dam spent the entire fight trying to outbox Murata with some success, but found it very hard to avoid Murata’s power shots.
Two judges had the fight for N’Dam with scores of 117-110 and 111-116, while one judge had it 112-115 for Murata.
Once again, N’Dam is now in the mix for title contention for belts that actually matter at Middleweight, while Murata is forced to take a step back before attempting to look for more lucrative fights with the very best in the division.
Ken Shiro (9-0, 5 KOs) scored a majority decision victory against Ganigan Lopez (28-7, 17 KOs) to win the WBC Light Flyweight title.
Shiro won with two scores of 113-115, while one judge had it a 114-114 draw.
Daigo Higa (13-0, 13 KOs) scored a sixth-round TKO victory against Juan Hernandez Navarrete (34-3, 25 KOs) to win the vacant WBC Flyweight title.
What did you think of tonight’s action in Japan? Let us know in the comments section below.
