Photos: Ryota Murata vs. Hassan N'Dam - Official Weigh-In

Tokyo - The weights are in for the battle between WBA Interm Middleweight Champion Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam of France (35-2-0, 21 KO's) and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Ryota Murata of Japan (12-0-0, 9 KO's) as they will decide the regular WBA World Middleweight champion at the Ariake Colossuem in Tokyo Japan set for this Saturday May 20th, 2017.  Photos by Naoki Fukuda.

Also on the fight card are two WBC world championship bouts. Daigo Higa (12-0-0, 12 KO's) of Okinawa, Japan will challenge Juan Hernandez Navarrete (34-2-0, 26 KO's) of Mexico City D.F. for the WBC Flyweight championship. Ken Shiro (9-0-0, 5 KO's) of Kyoto, Japan faces WBC light flyweight titlist Ganigan Lopez (28-6-0, 17 KO's) of Mexico City D.F. Press in attendance and coverage of this mega event has been unprecedented due to Ryota Murata’s ever growing star power in Japan. This triple title event is presented by Teiken Promotions and televised live by Fuji TV at 7:00pm JST.

PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

HASSAN N'DAM N'JIKAM vs. RYOTA MURATA

WBA MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

RYOTA MURATA:

"It's the world title fight that I look forward to and I would like to thank you all for being here"

“There is pressure to perform but I am excited more than anything”

“Looking at it now I’m not really concerned about the belt but my focus is in beating Hassan N’Dam”

“My game plan is already set so I’m not going to change anything now, I just have to make weight and show my best.

“Hassan is a fighter I respect and I’ve seen him fight on TV and I am excited to face him and on Saturday I can’t wait to fight”

“The value of the title isn’t something that I can judge but I’m thankful for the opportunity and I’m looking forward to the fight and all I can do now is win”

 “Ill do my best and the day after tomorrow I’ll win”

HASSAN N'DAM:

"Hello to everyone. Its 2 days before my fight and I feel very good. It's the first time for me seeing so many people for the press conference and I hope it will be the same for the fight because you’re going to enjoy a great fight. I want to thank the people who support me. I want to thank my promoter Sebastian Acarias who has done everything to make the fight happen. I want to thank my team, Pedro Diaz and Oswaldo who helped me throughout training camp. I want to thank all my family, all my friends and my sparring partners who helped me to be great today. So I feel very good and lets see whats gonna happen Saturday”

“This will be my 7th world title fight. It will be a great fight for me because I know what to expect. Murata was an Olympic champion but he needs to prove to me that he can stand with me. I think you are very prepared for this fight so I hope to have a great fight with you”

“My nickname is “El fenomeno” that means “I am the showman” The fight is going to be a show. I’m gonna be ready for that fight. I think Murata is going to be ready too. It’s going to be a great fight but I’ve already fought the best boxers in the world and I know this game. I’ve been in this business a long time. So lets see this Saturday whats gonna happen, but I think I’m going to win.”

“Be ready for Saturday because you’re going to get a great fight. You (Murata) have 12 fights with other fighters but right now you are facing Hassan N’dam, it will be more difficult for you”