Saitama and Boxing

Here’s something not a lot of people know about me: I’m a bit of a boxing fan. I wasn’t interested in the sport for most of my life but, on a whim, I decided to tune into the Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko heavyweight title fight about 5 years ago. It was an epic, back and forth battle between a rising star in Joshua and Klitschko, a boxing legend. More than 90,000 people crammed into Wembley Stadium in London, both fighters were knocked to the canvas at different points, and it was decided by Joshua in an 11th round technical knockout. I am convinced anyone who watched that fight would have become a fan of the sport and since then I’ve been hooked. Likewise, combat sports are hugely popular in Japan. Boxing, kickboxing, MMA, and, of course, sumo wrestling all command a lot of interest from sports fans, especially when Japanese fighters are involved. Having never been to a live match before, I thought it would be fun to visit Saitama this last weekend and attend the fight between Gennadiy Golovkin and Ryota Murata along with my friend Teppei.

Saitama is a city immediately to the north of Tokyo. About 1.3 million people live there, making it a bit bigger than Niigata. It has a reputation for being a commuter city and a quiet place to start a family though. “Dasai” is a Japanese slang word that means lame, uncool, or, as my Japanese friend put it, (excuse his language) “fucking boring.” As a result, the city of Saitama has received the nickname “dasaitama,” much to the dismay of the residents. Did Saitama live up to it’s reputation of being a sleepy residential city? Well, I wasn’t there very long, only a weekend, but yes it would seem. There wasn’t a whole lot going on from my point of view. There was one nice area filled with shops and restaurants called Omiya, but it was pretty small and somewhat sparse compared to cities of a similar size. Here in Omiya, we were able to find an izakaya, a traditional style Japanese bar, where Teppei introduced me to some of the staples of Japanese bar food before the match. I tried octopus cured in vinegar, a sort of gravy and meat dish, and fried squid along with a few beers. It was nice catching up with Teppei, whom I hadn’t seen since January. It turns out, he recently bought a bar in Tokyo, and is currently running that along with his previous job distilling gin. After, we made our way to the venue: Saitama Super Arena, the largest indoor arena in the Tokyo area, which recently hosted events in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The venue was sold out and we were lucky to acquire the tickets through a lottery. The atmosphere inside was absolutely electric and the tension before the fight was palpable. For those of you unfamiliar with boxing, Gennadiy Golovkin is one of the greatest middleweights of all time. The Kazakh fighter turned 40 the day before the fight and was bringing in an impressive 41-1-1 record, with 37 of his wins being knockouts. Ryota Murata is a Japanese fighter from Nara, Japan and is a highly ranked fighter in the weight class as well. Of course, most of the crowd was cheering for him, but there was a sizable contingent of Golovkin fans waving Kazakhstan flags. The fight was entertaining and filled with action. There were a lot of good exchanges from both fighters. Murata started out strong and won most of the early rounds. He was forcing Golovkin back and was delivering some powerful shots to Golovkin’s body. Golovkin though, known for his ability to absorb punishment, was able to adapt by round 5 and he began to wear down Murata with his powerful punches. The later rounds turned for Golovkin before a big right hand sent Murata stumbling to his knees in the 9th round, when, with his nose pouring blood and his face bruised purple, the towel flew in from his corner, stopping the fight and giving Golovkin a win via TKO.

The Japanese fans were definitely disappointed with the result, but they were respectful the entire time. I never heard anyone boo Golovkin, like you would hear at a fight in the US or Europe and they applauded both his entrance and victory announcement at the end. Golovkin is something of a fan favorite in boxing, known for being an upstanding sportsman and it was on display here. Golovkin and Murata embraced after the fight and exchanged kind words which was nice to see. Golovkin gave Murata his ornate Kazakh robe that he wears before every match. In the end, though Murata tried his best, the superior boxer won, and it is no shame for Murata to have lost to one of the greatest fighters of the current day. After the match, Teppei and I walked through the streets of Saitama to the train station. It was so quiet that it was easy to forget you are only a few kilometers from one of the busiest and largest cities in the world. Teppei is so busy now between his two jobs that he had to return home shortly after the match. It was good to see him, and I look forward to visiting his bar the next time I am in Tokyo. After we parted, I went back to my hotel. Today, after a train ride, taxi, bus, ferry, and hour long drive, I am finally back to my home in Sado and ready for my first day of classes of the new school year tomorrow. The cherry blossoms have turned pink and many people are out to enjoy the sight and the warm weather.