Robert Brant (born October 2, 1990) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who held the WBA (Regular)

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

title from 2018 to 2019.

Amateur career

Brant was a member of the US National boxing team. He began boxing as an amateur in 2007 and by 2009, remarkably, had already won a national championship. In his amateur career, Brant tallied the following notable finishes: * 2007 Ringside Championships - Champion * 2008 Platinum Gloves (Orlando) - Runner-Up * 2008 Under 19 National Championships - Champion * 2009 Upper Midwest Golden Gloves - Champion * 2009 U.S. National Championships - Champion * 2010 Upper Midwest Golden Gloves - Champion * 2010 National Golden Gloves - Champion

Professional career

Early career

Brant turned professional in June 2012, beginning his career with a second-round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

(TKO) win over journeyman Cheyenne Ziegler. By October 2015, Brant's record was 17-0 when he first headlined a nationally televised card, defeating Louis Rose of

Lynwood, California Lynwood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 67,265, down from 69,772 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Lynwood is located nea ...

, then 13-2-1, by

majority decision A majority decision (MD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (at ...

in a closely contested ten-round bout. On January 22, 2016, Brant fought in the

main event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

of a

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televised card, defeating 15-3-1 Decarlo Perez by

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

in round four. The result was widely publicized, with commentators praising Brant as "outstanding," "a skilled boxer," and displaying "crushing power."

Dan Rafael Dan Rafael ( ; born August 25, 1970) is an American sportswriter known for his coverage of boxing and baseball. Early life and education Rafael was born in Albany, New York. He attended Binghamton University, where he wrote for the school paper. ...

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praised Brant for his "titanic right hand...that annihilated Perez." Brant's knockout of Perez was also featured on that evening's edition of SportsCenter's Top 10, and was later listed as number six on ESPN's 2016 Knockouts of the Year. The win gave Brant a 19–0 record with 12 wins by knockout. On April 15, 2016, Brant improved to 20-0 with a knockout of Delray Raines in a fight that lasted just 55 seconds. Brant earned another early-round knockout on August 5, making quick work of Chris Fitzpatrick. ESPN named Brant one of its Top 20 Rising Stars of professional boxing in an article published on December 29, 2016. On July 6, it was announced that Brant would move from middleweight to super middleweight to take part in the

World Boxing Super Series The World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) is a professional boxing tournament organised by Comosa AG. Each weight class features eight boxers competing in an annual knockout competition with the champion from each weight class taking the Muhammad Al ...

, Brant being the only American boxer to take part in the tournament. Given the opportunity to compete in the tournament Brant stated he would "be proud to have the opportunity to represent the United States". On 27 October 2017, Brant faced former world champion Juergen Braehmer as a part of the WBSS super middleweight quarterfinal. Braehmer boxed well and kept a steady pace throughout the fight, landing the better punches and making Brant miss. Brant didn't do much in the final round to try and change the outcome of the fight. The judges saw it as a unanimous decision win in favor of Braehmer, 119-109, 118-110 and 116-112. In his following fight, Brant bounced back with a first-round knockout win against Colby Courter.

WBA (Regular) middleweight champion

Brant vs. Murata

After his comeback win, Brant challenged Ryota Murata for the WBA (Regular) middleweight title at Park Theater in

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, Nevada on October 20, 2018. Brant, at that time ranked #3 by the WBA and #11 by the IBF, was considered the underdog going into the fight. Brant proved the experts wrong by outboxing and outworking Murata on the way to a unanimous decision win, 118-110, 119-109 and 119-109.

Brant vs. Baysangurov

His first title defense came against Khasan Baysangurov on February 15, 2019. Brant managed to trop Baysangurov once, en route to an eleventh-round TKO victory, to retain his WBA (Regular) middleweight title.

Brant vs. Murata II

On July 12, 2019, Brant had his second title defense against Ryota Murata in a much anticipated rematch, this time in Murata's home country, at the

Edion Arena is an indoor sporting arena located in Namba, Osaka, Japan. It first opened in 1952 and the current building was constructed in 1987. It is the venue of a professional sumo tournament (honbasho) held in March every year. The capacity of the ...

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, Japan. The rematch went completely differently from the first fight, this time Murata being the dominant fighter, dropping and stopping Brant in the second round to reclaim his WBA (Regular) belt.

Career from 2020

After a layoff of more than a year, Brant returned to the ring on August 22, 2020, where he was victorious against Vitalii Kopylenko via fifth-round

corner retirement A corner retirement (also known as a corner stoppage) is a term in boxing used to describe a fight ending when a boxer refuses to continue or their corner team pulls them out during the rest period between rounds. This results in the referee sto ...

. Brant faced undefeated Janibek Alimkhanuly as the co-featured bout to Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Masayoshi Nakatani on June 26, 2021, in

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an Unincorporated towns in Nevada, unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the ...

. He was knocked down in the sixth round, en route to an eighth-round corner retirement defeat.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

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Rob Brant - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
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Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brant, Robert 1990 births Living people People from Oakdale, Minnesota Sportspeople from Washington County, Minnesota Boxers from Minnesota American male boxers African-American boxers Middleweight boxers Super-middleweight boxers World middleweight boxing champions World Boxing Association champions Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers National Golden Gloves champions 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen