By Tim Royner: WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez will reportedly be trained by Saul Canelo Alvarez’s coach Eddy Reynoso. Valdez, 27, suffered a broken jaw in his last fight in beating former super bantamweight champion Scott Quigg last March.
By Chris William: WBA ‘regular’ middleweight champion Ryota Murata (14-1, 11 KOs) will be making his second defense of his WBA title against possibly #3 WBA Rob Brant (23-1, 16 KOs) on October 20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. 2012 Olympic gold medalist Murata’s fight on October 20th will be televised on ESPN+ on Top Rank Boxing.
By Allan Fox: WBA World middleweight champion Ryota Murata 14-1, 11 KOs) has been ordered by the World Boxing Association to defend against #3 WBA Rob Brant (23-1, 16 KOs). The WBA sent out letters to the management of Brant and Murata, according to Dan Rafael. The deal has to be done by July 15 before a purse bid takes place.
Brant, 27, was recently beaten by Juergen Braehmer by a 12 round unanimous decision last October in a one-sided fight in the World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament.
By Jim Dower: Former 2-time light heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer (49-4, 35 KOs) totally outclassed a badly over-matched previously unbeaten middleweight contender Rob “Rio” Brant (22-1, 15 KOs) in beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision on Friday night in the World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament at the Sport and Congress Center in Schwerin, in Germany.
By Jeff Aranow: Juergen Braehmer (48-3, 35 KOs) weighed in at 75.7 kg for his fight this Friday night on October 27 against unbeaten middleweight Rob Brant (22-0, 15 KOs) in the quarterfinals of the World Boxing Super Series in Schwerin, Germany. The 27-year-old Brant weighed in at 75.3 kg.
By Allan Fox: WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders’s opponent for his next fight on October 29 will be either #7 WBO Rob Brant (21-0, 14 KOs) or #11 Artur Akavov (16-1, 7 KOS) for the undercard of the Tyson Fury vs. Wladimir Klitschko II card at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK.
This is a disappointment to say the least that one of these two guys will wind up being Saunders’ next opponent, because he could have been fighting the like of Gabriel Rosado, Willie Monroe Jr. or Curtis Stevens on the undercard of the Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Liam Smith card this Saturday night on HBO pay-per-view from the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
If Saunders had faced one of them, then he could have gotten a fight against Canelo, according to Dan Rafael. It would have been a huge fight for Saunders to fight Canelo, and all he would have had to do to get it would have been for him to beat the likes of Rosado, Stevens or Monroe.