Rob Brant came into the ring a heavy underdog. He left it a champion. Brant, from St. Paul, Minn., toppled Ryota Murata by unanimous decision to win the WBA middleweight title in front of 2,782 fans at the MGM’s Park Theater in Las Vegas. (photos by Mikey Williams)
Brant threw an astounding 1,262 punches, landing 356. Murata, meanwhile, landed 180 of 774 punches.
It was the second title defense for Murata (14-2, 11 KOs), a 2012 Olympic gold medalist for his native Japan. Brant (24-1, 16 KOs) remains unbeaten when fighting as a middleweight.
Maxim “Mad Max” Dadashev had never seen anything like Antonio DeMarco before. A former lightweight world champion, DeMarco stunned Dadashev on multiple occasions.
But Dadashev had enough left in the tank, closing strong down the stretch to win a unanimous decision (96-94, 97-93, 98-92) and retain his NABF super lightweight title.
Dadashev (12-0, 10 KOs) swept the last three rounds on all three judges scorecards to secure the win against DeMarco (33-7-1, 24 KOs), who saw his two-fight winning streak come to an end.
Michael “Mick” Conlan’s Las Vegas debut went according to plan. The two-time Olympian from Belfast, Ireland, broke down Nicola Cipolletta and knocked him out with an accumulation of blows in the seventh round.
Conlan (9-0, 6 KOs) pushed the pace against the defensive-minded Cipolletta (14-7-2, 4 KOs), who was making his American debut. Cipolletta, who was content to back up for much of the fight, succumbed from Conlan's vicious body attach.
Conlan is scheduled to close out his 2018 campaign on Dec. 22 in Manchester, England.
Middleweight: Esquiva Falcao (22-0, 15 KOs) unanimous decision, 10 rounds, Guido Pitto (25-6-2, 8 KOs). Scores: 100-90 3X.
Lightweight: Joseph Adorno (10-0, 9 KOs), unanimous decision, 6 rounds, Kevin Cruz (8-1, 5 KOs). Scores: 59-53 2X, 58-54.
Super Lightweight: Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (6-0, 3 KOs),TKO 2, 2:13, Wilberth Lopez (23-10, 15 KOs)
Featherweight: Vladimir Nikitin (2-0, 0 KOs), unanimous decision, 6 rounds, Clay Burns (5-5-2, 4 KOs). Scores: 59-55 3X.
Featherweight: Adam Lopez (11-1, 5 KOs), TKO 8, 1:29, Hector Ambriz (12-8-2, 6 KOs).
Middleweight: David Kaminsky (3-0, 2 KOs), TKO 2 , :40, Noah LaCoste (2-1, 2 KOs).
