Former middleweight champion Ryota Murata, one of the most popular and accomplished boxers from Japan in recent memory, told the Japanese media Wednesday that he was effectively retiring from the sport.  

Murata, 37, informed reporters that his title-losing bout with Gennadiy Golovkin of Kazakhstan that took place in Saitama, Japan, last April, would be “my last match.”

“Inside my head I’m thinking, ‘that was my last [fight],’” Murata said of the defeat to Golovkin (h/t The Mainichi). “I just haven't been able to announce it (until now), but that's how I'm thinking personally.”

In his fight with Golovkin, Murata took charge of the early rounds and had the Kazakh puncher on his back foot for long stretches. But Golovkin eventually found his groove in the middle rounds. By the eighth round, Golovkin was teeing off on Murata. Golovkin finally stopped the Japanese champion in the ninth round after dropping him with a right hand, forcing Murata’s corner to throw in the towel. The win gave Golovkin, who already had the IBF and IBO titles, Murata’s WBO belt.  

Murata began his professional career in 2013 on the heels of what had been a successful and well-publicized amateur career. In 2012, he became the second Japanese boxer ever to win an Olympic gold medal. He is also the first Japanese boxer to win a gold medal outside of the bantamweight and flyweight divisions.

Known for his power and pressure, Murata became the WBA middleweight champion in October 2017 with a dominant seventh-round stoppage of France’s Hassan N’Dam. The fight was a rematch of one of the most controversial fights that year, when, five months earlier, N’Dam won a highly disputed split decision.

Murata would lose his title again in 2018, when he faced Rob Brant in Las Vegas. Brant outclassed Murata over 12 rounds, and unlike the N’Dam fight, there was no accompanying controversy.

But Murata would show he had a gift for correcting his mistakes. Nearly nine months later, Murata stopped Brant in two rounds in their rematch that took place in Osaka, Japan, to regain his WBA belt.

Murata (16-3, 13 KOs) would defend his title one more time, a fifth-round stoppage of Steven Butler, before going on to face Golovkin.