Ryota Murata, the first Japanese boxer to win both Olympic gold and a professional world championship, confirmed Tuesday that he was hanging up his gloves "with no regrets."
"It took me a long time to make the decision, but I couldn't find anything more I wanted out of boxing," the 37-year-old said at a press conference in Tokyo.
Murata signaled his retirement following his ninth-round technical knockout loss to Kazakh star Gennadiy Golovkin in their April 2022 middleweight title unification bout.
"I think that's the last time for me," Murata said following that bout at Saitama Super Arena.
Murata won Japan's first Olympic boxing gold in 48 years when he was crowned men's middleweight champion at the 2012 London Games.
He turned pro in August 2013 and captured the WBA middleweight crown in October 2017. He lost the title once, in 2018, before reclaiming it the following year.
The native of western Japan's Nara Prefecture retires with a 16-3 professional record, including 13 wins by knockout.
He plans to continue his involvement in boxing and hopes to use his knowledge and experience to help others.
"I'm retiring as a boxer, but I'm starting afresh in retirement," he said at the press conference. "I hope to become a good role model for athletes by showing there's more to life than competition."
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Boxing: Former Olympic, WBA middleweight champ Murata ready to quit
