As has been speculated, Ryota Murata is officially in the big show in Macau on Feb. 22 as he entered his second year as a professional boxer.
His promotion side revealed that it is negotiating with Carlos Nascimento to be Murata's opponent in the event, which will be held at the Venetian Macau Hotel. Though the Brazilian is 40 years old, he has a 29-3 record (23 KOs), including a loss in his WBO light middleweight world title challenge against Serhiy Dzinziruk of Ukraine in 2007.
"He clearly has the better track record than me," Murata said of Nascimento at Tokyo's Teiken Gym on Friday. "So I'd like to go up against him as a challenger."