Boxing Challenge: Brant stops Baysangurov

Photo Credit: Top Rank

From the bustling streets of Hinckley, Minnesota, ESPN's main event showcased native son Rob Brant in his first fight since his surprising upset of former Olympic gold medalist Ryota Murata to win a minor middleweight title.

This being boxing, Brant wasn't about to be fighting a decent contender in front of a casino sized crowd in a homecoming event, so undefeated and unknown Khasen Baysangurov was brought to Minnesota as the foil.
I don't blame the promoters/managers etc for Brant. I might have done the same thing.
Still, you have the feeling that this could be one of those wonderful lopsided "Enhancement" matches and nothing Baysangurov had on his limited resume' was going to change that thought before the fight.

The actual fight didn't change many minds either as I thought Brant won the first nine rounds by the sheer volume of punches that had little problems making contact along with a 10-8 round for the second after Brant dropped Baysangurov with a right hand.
Baysangurov did win the tenth on my card and even landed a strong right hand that stung Brant along the ropes, so even though the needed knockout was highly unlikely, it was plausible.
Instead, Brant closed the show for his crowd with a knockdown in the eleventh and finished Baysangurov with a dazzling group of punches that dazed the Russian and forced the referee to step in.

The easy decision would have been to box the final two rounds and win a lopsided decision, but I liked Brant turning up the heat and winning by stoppage.
Wins in that manner always look better against average opposition and fans remember victories that are finished in such fashion far more as well.
I'm still not convinced that Rob Brant is a top-five level middleweight (The TRS ratings are out next week), but he is easily a top ten fighter and I'm anxious to see his next fight which will hopefully be against a better opponent.
Brant's activity will make him interesting to consider even against the elite of the division, but he didn't throw nearly as many punches in his only loss, an almost inexplicable decision loss at super middleweight in the World Boxing Super Series to the faded Jurgen Braehmer.
Brant will not be able to repeat that performance if he eventually expects to win against the best middleweights, but he'll have a chance anyway should his style of late hold form.