By Ian S Palmer
Regular WBA Middleweight Champion Ryota Murata of Japan will be defending his title for the second time when he meets Rob Brant of Saint Paul, Minnesota in Las Vegas, Nevada this Saturday, October 20th. The 12-round bout can be seen live in the U.S. on ESPN+ while those in the UK and Ireland can catch it on BoxNation. Murata’s first defence was an eighth-round stoppage of European Champion Emanuele Felice Blandamura in April. Brant last fought in March when he stopped Colby Courter in the first round. Murata the title from Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam last October by stopping him after the seventh round. N’Jikam had taken the vacant title in a bout against Murata just five months earlier by a controversial split decision.
The 32-year-old Murata is a skilled boxer who won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 2012 Olympics in London, England. He turned pro the next year and has boxed 92 rounds since then and enters the ring with a record of 14-1 with 11 Kos. Murata stands six-feet tall with a 74-inch reach. Other than meeting N’Dam twice, he hasn’t exactly fought the cream of the crop in the middleweight division, but he’s had just 15 pro fights. He’s also beaten Akio Shibata, Carlos Nascimento, Jessie Nicklow, Gunnar Jackson and Bruno Sandoval.
Murata possesses fine boxing skills and appears to have a solid chin. He also has better-than average power power with a current knockout ratio of 73 per cent. Murata possesses an aggressive style and likes to dig his heavy punches into his opponents’ body as much as he does the head. He has a crowd-pleasing way of boxing and will be trying to impress fans in North America as it’s his first fight there. It’s hard to spot an obvious weakness in Murata, but he may want to sharpen up his defensive skills if possible as he isn’t the hardest guy to hit.
The 28-year-old Brant is probably best known for his bout against Juergen Braehmer in the super middleweight quarterfinals of the World Boxing Super Series last October. But even though Brant was over a decade younger than Braehmer he lost a wide unanimous decision to the former WBA Light Heavyweight Champion. That is Brant’s only career loss though as he enters the bout against Murata with a mark of 23-1 with 16 Kos since turning pro back in 2012. Brant is just over six feet tall with a 70.5 inch reach, which gives him a 3.5-inch reach disadvantage against Murata.
Brant has also shown pretty good power up to know with a current knockout ratio of 67 per cent in the 88 rounds he’s fought as a pro. But other than taking on Braehmer, Brant has fought a steady diet of Grade B boxers and will once again be stepping up in class on Saturday when he takes on Murata. Brant fought as a light heavyweight for much of his amateur career and was quite successful. He started boxing at the age of 16 and won several Golden Gloves titles as a youngster and was also the U.S. National champion in 2009. He’s also won a couple of regional and minor titles as a pro.
Prediction…
Brant has been brought along very slowly as a pro and hasn’t fought enough top-tier opponents as of yet. He has the skills and power to compete with them, but didn’t take advantage of his chance against Braehmer. As for Murata, he’s a solid solid boxer with good power and a tough chin. He’s determined to do well in North America and as long as he doesn’t get careless he should retain his title.
