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WBA (regular) champion Rob Brant will defend his secondary world title against the unbeaten Khasan Baysangurov on February 15, 2019 at the Grand Casino in Hinckley, Minnesota and can be viewed in the United States via ESPN and ESPN Deportes.
Rob Brant (24-1 with 16 knockouts)
The 28 year old Rob Brant has a record of 24-1 with 16 knockouts. Brant is listed as 6-0 tall with a reach of 70.5 inches and fights out of the orthodox stance. He’s logged in 100 rounds since turning professional in 2012. He started boxing at the age of 16 and won a handful of Golden Gloves titles as a youngster and the U.S. Nationals in 2009. As a pro, he won the WBC Continental Americas middleweight title and WBA-NABA middleweight title. He was also a contestant at the recent World Boxing Super Series middleweight tournament before winning the WBA (regular) title last year.
Brant is coming off the best performance of his career, a 12-round unanimous decision win over the heralded Japanese Ryota Murata. Brant dominated Murata 118-110 and 119-109 twice to win the WBA (regular) middleweight title. In that fight, Brant threw over 1,200 punches to wear down his game opponent. Brant’s only loss came at the hands of Juergen Braehmer when he moved up to 168 pounds.
Brant
-747
Baysangurov
+572
Brant
O 9.5 -294
Baysangurov
U 9.5 +249
Odds from betonline.ag as of 2/14/19
Khasan Baysangurov (17-0 with 7 knockouts)
Khasan Baysangurov is only 21 years of age and is listed as 6-1 with his reach unlisted. He turned pro in 2013 and has 90 rounds of boxing experience under his belt. The Ukrainian has a record of 17-0 with 7 knockouts but unlike Brant whose career we have followed, Baysangurov fought mostly in Ukraine and Russia. It’s hard to determine how good or not he really is at this stage of his career. What we know though is that he won the WBO Youth Super Welterweight belt in 2015 and the WBA intercontinental middleweight title last year but if we list down his resume, it’s be hard to identify most of the names on the list.
Like Brant, Baysangurov turned professional at the age of 16. He is the younger brother of former world junior middleweight champion Zaurbek Baysangurov, who retired in 2014. In his last bout, Khasan Baysangurov defeated fringe contender Paul Valenzuela over 12 rounds via unanimous decision. The victory earned the Ukrainian the WBA’s #8 ranking which led to this title shot against Rob Brant.
Who Wins?
In his lone lone to Juergen Braehmer, Rob Brant was totally outclassed and looked like he was probably not at world class level. Two fights later however, Brant put on a show against former world champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Ryota Murata and proved that he deserves to be held in the same breath as the elites. I’m not saying though that Brant is a world-beater already but he’s a powerful puncher who has skills and who is given every opportunity to shine.
Baysangurov is unbeaten in 17 bouts and is only 21 years old. He’s fought mostly in the Ukraine and Russia and is a virtual unknown to Western fans. In fact, this is his first fight in U.S. soil. There isn’t much we know about him except that he is considered one of the top prospects coming from that part of the world That doesn’t necessarily mean that he is the underdog as the betting gods suggest. However, having not fought the kind of opposition that Rob Brant has faced, the latter has the advantage in terms of experience and mileage.
Baysangurov has stepped up his level of competition as of late though. In his last two bouts, he beat Guido Pitto and Paul Valenzuela. Pitto owns a win over former interim world champion Jack Culcay while Valenzuela who has fought world champions like Jaime Munguia and Tony Harrison. Despite that, I think Baysangurov is too young and still inexperienced.
Brant isn’t just the more decorated fighter here, he is also the better boxer at this stage of their careers. Rob Brant is entering his prime and is at the best form of his boxing career. Without a knockout punch, I think the Ukrainian will have a hard time trying to outbox the American. I think Brant will put in a high output here, outwork Baysangurov and get the victory.
I’m picking Rob Brant to beat Khasan Baysangurov via decision.
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