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Robert Brant (born October 2, 1990) is an American professional boxer who held the WBA (Regular) middleweight 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 (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, then 13-2-1, by majority decision in a closely contested ten-round bout. On January 22, 2016, Brant fought in the main event of a Showtime televised card, defeating 15-3-1 Decarlo Perez by knockout in round four. The result was widely publicized, with commentators praising Brant as "outstanding," "a skilled boxer," and displaying "crushing power." Dan Rafael of ESPN 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, 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 Las Vegas, 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 in Osaka, 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.

Brant faced undefeated Janibek Alimkhanuly as the co-featured bout to Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Masayoshi Nakatani on June 26, 2021, in Paradise, Nevada. He was knocked down in the sixth round, en route to an eighth-round corner retirement defeat.

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
29	Loss	26–3	Janibek Alimkhanuly	RTD	8 (10), 3:00	Jun 26, 2021	Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
28	Win	26–2	Vitalii Kopylenko	RTD	5 (10), 3:00	Aug 22, 2020	MGM Grand Conference Center, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
27	Loss	25–2	Ryōta Murata	TKO	2 (12), 2:34	Jul 12, 2019	Edion Arena, Osaka, Japan	Lost WBA (Regular) middleweight title
26	Win	25–1	Khasan Baysangurov	TKO	11 (12), 1:42	Feb 15, 2019	Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota, U.S.	Retained WBA (Regular) middleweight title
25	Win	24–1	Ryōta Murata	UD	12	Oct 20, 2018	Park Theater, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	Won WBA (Regular) middleweight title
24	Win	23–1	Colby Courter	KO	1 (8)	Mar 18, 2018	Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota, U.S.
23	Loss	22–1	Jürgen Brähmer	UD	12	Oct 27, 2017	Sport- und Kongresshalle, Schwerin, Germany	World Boxing Super Series: super middleweight quarter-final
22	Win	22–0	Alexis Hloros	TKO	1 (10), 2:37	Jan 20, 2017	Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota, U.S.	Retained WBA-NABA middleweight title
21	Win	21–0	Chris Fitzpatrick	KO	3 (10), 1:18	Aug 5, 2016	Pechanga Resort & Casino, Temecula, California, U.S.
20	Win	20–0	Delray Raines	KO	1 (10), 0:55	Apr 15, 2016	Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota, U.S.	Retained WBA-NABA middleweight title
19	Win	19–0	Decarlo Perez	KO	4 (10), 0:39	Jan 22, 2016	Casino Del Sol, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.	Won vacant WBA-NABA middleweight title
18	Win	18–0	Louis Rose	MD	10	Oct 23, 2015	Celebrity Theater, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.	Won vacant WBC Continental Americas middleweight title
17	Win	17–0	Lekan Byfield	KO	3 (8)	Aug 28, 2015	Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota, U.S.
16	Win	16–0	Ernesto Berrospe	TKO	3 (6), 0:33	Jul 17, 2015	Sands Event Center, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S.
15	Win	15–0	Dionisio Miranda	KO	2 (8), 2:40	Apr 17, 2015	Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota, U.S.
14	Win	14–0	Ryan Davis	TKO	1 (8)	Feb 6, 2015	Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota, U.S.
13	Win	13–0	Eric Draper	TKO	1 (8), 1:30	Nov 21, 2014	Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota, U.S.
12	Win	12–0	Marcus Upshaw	UD	8	Aug 22, 2014	Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota, U.S.
11	Win	11–0	Mickey Scarborough	TKO	1 (6), 2:17	Jun 13, 2014	Muse Event Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
10	Win	10–0	Demetrius Walker	UD	6	Mar 28, 2014	Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota, U.S.
9	Win	9–0	Tyler Hultin	TKO	2 (6), 1:41	Jan 24, 2014	Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota, U.S.
8	Win	8–0	Damien Hill	TKO	3 (5), 1:08	Aug 16, 2013	Grand Casino, Hinckley, Minnesota, U.S.
7	Win	7–0	Eric Marriott	UD	6	Apr 13, 2013	Wessman Arena, Superior, Wisconsin, U.S.
6	Win	6–0	Keith Collins	UD	6	Feb 9, 2013	Crown Plaza Hotel, Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
5	Win	5–0	Romon Barber	UD	6	Jan 5, 2013	Hyatt Regency Hotel, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
4	Win	4–0	Ryan Soft	KO	1 (4), 2:53	Oct 27, 2012	Canterbury Park, Shakopee, Minnesota, U.S.
3	Win	3–0	Eli Smith	TKO	1 (4), 1:22	Sep 15, 2012	Wessman Arena, Superior, Wisconsin, U.S.
2	Win	2–0	Brian Geraghty	UD	4	Aug 25, 2012	Crown Plaza Hotel, Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
1	Win	1–0	Cheyenne Ziegler	KO	2 (4), 0:53	Jun 16, 2012	Hyatt Regency Hotel, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.

See also

• List of middleweight boxing champions

References

1. ^ "USA Boxing - Features, Events, Results | Team USA". usaboxing.org. Archived from the original on March 10, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
2. "Robert Brant - Amateur Boxing Record". boxing-scoop.com. Archived from the original on July 7, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
3. "Live From Ringside". livefromringside.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
4. "Robert Brant Wins National Golden Gloves | The Fistic Mystic". fisticmystic.wordpress.com. May 9, 2010. Archived from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
5. "Scorecard: Danny Garcia wins, sets up another big fight". ESPN. January 25, 2016. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
6. "2016 ESPN.com KO of the year". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
7. "BoxRec - Rob Brant". boxrec.com. Archived from the original on October 22, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
8. "2016 ESPN.com prospect of the year -- Erickson Lubin -- Boxing". Archived from the original on December 30, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
9. "Avni Yildirim, Rob Brant, Mike Perez Join World Boxing Super Series". July 6, 2017.
10. Robert "Bravo" Brant (July 6, 2017). "I am proud to have the opportunity to represent the United States in the @WBSuperSeries and fight against some of the best in the world 🇺🇸🇺🇸" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
11. "Juergen Braehmer Outboxes Rob Brant, Callum Smith is Next". BoxingScene.com. October 27, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
12. "Rob Brant Bounces Back With First Round Knockout Win". BoxingScene.com. March 13, 2018. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
13. "Murata vs Brant - News, Tape, Ringwalk, TV, Streaming & Tickets". Box.Live. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
14. "Rob Brant Shocks Ryota Murata For Title, Derails Golovkin Plans". BoxingScene.com. October 21, 2018. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
15. "Rob Brant Drops, Stops Khasan Baysangurov in Eleventh". BoxingScene.com. February 15, 2019. Archived from the original on April 2, 2022. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
16. "Murata Batters Brant In Two, Reclaims Secondary 160-Pound Title". BoxingScene.com. July 12, 2019. Archived from the original on April 2, 2022. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
17. Idec, Keith (August 22, 2020). "Rob Brant Stops Vitaliy Kopylenko After Five One-Sided Rounds". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
18. Stumberg, Patrick L. (May 27, 2021). "Rob Brant vs. Janibek Alimkhanuly officially joins Lomachenko-Nakatani on June 26th". Bad Left Hook. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
19. "Janibek Alimkhanuly handles Rob Brant with ease on Loma card". The Ring. June 26, 2021. Archived from the original on July 21, 2021. Retrieved July 22, 2021.

External links

• Boxing record for Rob Brant from BoxRec (registration required)
• Official website
• Rob Brant - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live

• 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