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 Edition 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 Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Masayoshi Nakatani on June 26, 2021, in Paradise, Nevada. He took a knee in the sixth round en route to an eighth-round corner retirement defeat.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes29Loss26–3 Janibek AlimkhanulyRTD8 (10), Jun 26, 2021 28Win26–2 Vitalii Kopylenko5 (10), Aug 22, 2020 27Loss25–2 Ryōta MurataTKO2 (12), Jul 12, 2019 26Win25–1 Khasan Baysangurov TKO11 (12), Feb 15, 2019 25Win24–1 Ryōta Murata UD12Oct 20, 2018 24Win23–1 Colby Courter KO1 (8)Mar 18, 2018 23Loss22–1 Jürgen BrähmerUD12Oct 27, 2017 22Win22–0 Alexis HlorosTKO1 (10), Jan 20, 2017 21Win21–0 Chris FitzpatrickKO3 (10), Aug 5, 2016 20Win20–0 Delray RainesKO1 (10), Apr 15, 2016 19Win19–0 Decarlo PerezKO4 (10), Jan 22, 2016 18Win18–0 Louis Rose10Oct 23, 2015 17Win17–0 Lekan ByfieldKO3 (8)Aug 28, 2015 16Win16–0 Ernesto BerrospeTKO3 (6), Jul 17, 2015 15Win15–0 Dionisio MirandaKO2 (8), Apr 17, 2015 14Win14–0 Ryan DavisTKO1 (8)Feb 6, 2015 13Win13–0 Eric DraperTKO1 (8), Nov 21, 2014 12Win12–0 Marcus UpshawUD8Aug 22, 2014 11Win11–0 Mickey ScarboroughTKO1 (6), Jun 13, 2014 10Win10–0 Demetrius WalkerUD6Mar 28, 2014 9Win9–0 Tyler HultinTKO2 (6), Jan 24, 2014 8Win8–0 Damien HillTKO3 (5), Aug 16, 2013 7Win7–0 Eric MarriottUD6Apr 13, 2013 6Win6–0 Keith CollinsUD6Feb 9, 2013 5Win5–0 Romon BarberUD6Jan 5, 2013 4Win4–0 Ryan SoftKO1 (4), Oct 27, 2012 3Win3–0 Eli Smith1 (4), Sep 15, 2012 2Win2–0 Brian Geraghty4Aug 25, 2012 1Win1–0 Cheyenne Ziegler2 (4), Jun 16, 2012

See also List of middleweight boxing champions

References

External links

Rob Brant - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live