By Steve Kim
In what was a bit of a surprise, middleweight contender Rob Brant (22-0, 15 KOs) agreed to join the World Boxing Super Series 168-pound tournament.
He joins the likes of George Groves, Callum Smith, the winner of the upcoming bout between Arthur Abraham and Chris Eubank Jr., and Jurgen Brahmer(who are the top four seeds) - along with Avni Yildrim, Jamie Cox and Erik Skoglund.
Brant is currently the number two ranked middleweight by the WBA and had been patiently awaiting his shot at the title.
The decision was made earlier this week to enter this single-elimination tournament that has it's 'draft gala' on Saturday and kicks off in September in both the super middleweight and cruiserweight divisions with eight-man fields.
"It happened organically," explained Brant's promoter, Greg Cohen, to BoxingScene.com.
"We were talking and obviously Rob's been a little frustrated by the length of time it's taken to get his mandatory opportunity against either (Hassan) N'Dam or (Ryoto) Murata and now that they haven't been able to reach terms for a rematch, we really had no idea of when we'd get an opportunity."
Back on June 20th, N'Dam was the recipient of a highly controversial decision versus Murata in Tokyo for the 'regular' version of the WBA title. In the immediate aftermath, a rematch was ordered by the sanctioning body. At that point it wasn't clear when Brant would get a shot at the belt.
Cohen continued - "So we reached out to (Kalle) Sauerland and we were fortunate enough to be accepted into the tournament - the only American in the tournament and we like Rob's chances."
Observers are questioning if Brant can handle super middleweights having never fought in this weight class as a pro. To which Cohen countered:
"Rob is a fighter who was a national amateur champion in the U.S. at 178 pounds, fighting guys at 168 is a non-issue on the weight. When you look at the line-up everyone is really good but I don't see anyone who I would consider a superstar or unbeatable and we really like Rob's chances.
"He said to me, 'Greg, I'm not entering the tournament - I'm winning the tournament."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com