Top Rank has announced that they are signing Olympic gold medalist Ryota Murata of Japan. Murata took home gold in the middleweight division at the 2012 London Olympics. The signing continues to show where much of Top Rank’s attention is right now – expanding into and capitalizing on the Asian marketplace.
Murata joins famed Chinese amateur Zou Shiming in the Top Rank stable, along with, of course, luminary Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines, and many other emerging fighters from the region as well.
Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum and Todd duBoef, CEO and president of Top Rank, respectively, will host a news conference luncheon to announce the signing and professional debut of 2012 Japanese Olympic Gold Medalist Ryota Murata. It will take place Next Monday! June 10, in the Sunset Ballroom at The Beverly Hills Hotel (9641 Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills, Calif. 90210). Luncheon will be served at Noon PT, followed by the news conference at 12:30 p.m. PT.
Murata captured the Olympic gold medal in the middleweight division at the 2012 Olympics held in London. It was the first gold medal won by a Japanese boxer since Takao Sakurai in 1964, and also is the first-ever boxing medal in a weight class other than bantamweight or flyweight. Murata also became the 100th gold medalist in Japanese Olympic history. The six-foot orthodox fighter will campaign as a middleweight as a professional.
