When the announcement was made, Ryota Murata, standing near his blue corner, was dumbfounded.

Murata had come up short, losing to interim champion Hassan N'Dam in a 2-1 split decision (116-111, 115-112, 110-117) in their WBA middleweight title fight at Ariake Colosseum on Saturday night.

It marked the first professional loss for Murata (12-1), while N'Dam (36-2) captured a regular championship for the first time since he won the WBO middleweight belt in 2012.