Popular Japanese middleweight Ryota Murata returns at home in Japan with Sunday morning American television exposure thanks to his association win Top Rank. Exciting power punching flyweight titleholder Daigo Higa also competes in the co-main event, though I do not expect that to make the Sunday morning broadcast.
As a six foot tall middleweight, Ryota Murata (13-1, 10 KOs) is about as physically big as a Japanese fighter gets. This is a blessing and a curse for the 2012 Olympic gold medalist. His size certainly helps him to stand out positively. He is both extremely marketable in Japan as a different sort of fighter while still having some marketability outside of the storied island. Most top Japanese fighters are under featherweight in divisions that the international fight scene historically has not paid as much attention to. As a middleweight, Murata could make waves anywhere on the globe.
Unfortunately, the very same size that makes Murata stand out also fails to provide him with a Japanese domestic scene to build his early stage career out of. There just aren’t Japanese middleweights for him to fight. As a move against this, Murata signed a co-promotional agreement with American powerhouse Top Rank upon turning pro. This is why he is coming to your television Sunday morning. It is also why Murata has twice fought in the United States already as well as a handful of times in China.
As a fighter, Murata is a bull in the ring. He is just strong and sturdy as he comes forward behind a technical offensive game. His one loss to Hassan N’Dam was a blatant and confusing robbery in Japan that has since been avenged. It should also be noted that the WBA title the Japanese gold medalist won during that two fight sequence is illegitimate as a world title. Gennady Golovkin holds their real title, no matter what the WBA tries to advertise this fight as.
Italian non-contender Emanuele Felice Blandamura (27-2, 5 KOs) isn’t expected to put up much resistance as an opponent for Murata. If you recognize that name at all, it was probably because Blandamura was stopped in eight against Billy Joe Saunders a few years back. Michel Soro did the very same to him two fights later in the summer of 2015. Blandamura is 4-0 since then and has won the European title, but the men he beat to get there were low-Euro level at best. He’s here to lose and he will. I guess the only real curiosity is whether or not he will be stopped in the eighth round for the third time in three step up fights.
22 year old WBC flyweight titleholder Daigo Higa (15-0, 15 KOs) and his perfect knockout percentage has the co-main event spot against Cristofer Rosales (26-3, 17 KOs) of Nicaragua. This is a better fight than the main event, but Higa will still probably roll. Rosales has rebounded well with a few low key but nice wins since losing to Andrew Selby nearly a year ago though, so maybe he can be more competitive than expected. Unfortunately, Top Rank has no interest in either man here so I very much doubt the Sunday morning show will feature anything other than the main event. That is a shame because Higa is young, dynamic, and very exciting, but it makes sense given all the fighters’ promotional situations.
Don’t forget that this is live from Japan’s prime time and therefore an early morning show for us. The ESPN broadcast begins at 8 AM Eastern on Sunday morning. Set an alarm, DVR, or plan to watch it after on Watch ESPN’s app or website if you think you’ll sleep past that.
