By Mike Smith: Ryota Murata (14-1, 11 KOs) weighed in on Friday at 159.2 pounds for his title defense of his WBA World super middleweight champion Rob Brant (23-1, 16 KOs) on Saturday night at the Park Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Brant, 28, weighed in at 158.4 lbs. Brant looked a little intimidated during the face off with the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Murata.
(Photo Credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank)
Murata vs. Brant will be streamed on ESPN+ this Saturday night at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 pm. PT.
The only other time in Brant’s career that he stepped it up against a quality opponent, he fell apart in losing to 39-year-old Jurgen Braehmer by a 12 round unanimous decision last year in October. Brant didn’t have the size or the skills to deal with former WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Braehmer.
You can give Brant a partial excuse for losing to a fighter like Braehmer, as he was facing a guy with a lot more size and experience than him. Braehmer had been fighting at 175 for the last nine years of his career before melting down to compete in the World Boxing Super Series tournament.
Murata needs a win over Brant to put him in position for a good-paying fight against former middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in early 2019. Murata’s co-promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank is ready to make the Murata-Golovkin fight in early 2019 as long as Murata gets past Brant.
Brant has the power, youth and speed to win this fight if he can go after Murata and outwork him the way that Hassan N’Dam did in their first fight. Brant likely isn’t thinking about winning a decision. He’s going to be looking to knock Murata out.
Murata has been hurt before in his career by lesser punchers than Brant, so there’s a chance that he might not see the final bell in this fight. The WBA sees something in Brant for them to have him ranked #3 with their organization despite having next to no positive experience against high quality opposition. Brant looks like a world beater when he’s facing weak opposition. It’s hard to reconcile talent that Brant showed in the majority of his career to the way he looked recently.
Other weights on the card are as follows:
– Maxim Dadashev 138.6 lbs vs. Antonio DeMarco 139.6 lbs
– Esquiva Falcao 160.4 lbs vs. Guido Pitto 158.6 lbs
– Michael Conlan 126.4 lbs vs. Nicola Cipolletta 125.4 lbs
– Fazliddin Gaibnazarov 139.8 lbs vs. Wilberth Lopez 138.2 lbs
– Joseph Adorno 132.8 lbs vs. Kevin Cruz 132.2 lbs
– Vladimir Nikitin 126.6. lbs vs. Clay Burns 125.6 lbs
– Adam Lopez 126.4 lbs vs. Hector Ambriz 126.4 lbs
– David Kaminsky 159 lbs vs. Noah LaCoste 158.5 lbs
Tickets are priced at $204, $104, $54 and $29, not including taxes and handling fees, and can be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets or online at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets also can be purchased through the MGM Resorts International Call Center at 877-795-2564.
Use the hashtag #MurataBrant to join the conversation on social media.
