Murata Stops Brant In 2 In Rematch

Middleweight Ryota Murata got revenge for his loss to Rob Brant last October in Las Vegas, NV, by scoring a second round stoppage of Brant in their rematch on Friday night at the Edion Arena in Osaka, Japan. There was no feeling out process as both fighters were willing to stand and exchange punches from the opening bell. The fast pace of the combat resulted in both fighters having some success in the opening round as each tried to immediately return offense when hit by their opponent. A right hand to the head staggered Brant in the second round, which set of an assault that resulted in a knockdown. Although Brant, who had dominated the first fight with overall activity was able to get up from the knockdown, it was Murata this time who was relentless with his offense as he continued his battering of Brant until Referee Luis Pabon finally stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:34 of round two. Ryota Murata advances to 15-2, with 12 Knockouts. Rob Brant falls to 25-2, with 17 Knockouts.


Also on this card, undefeated WBC Light- Flyweight world champion Ken Shiro scored a fourth round stoppage of WBC number one Light-Flyweight contender Jonathan Taconing. Shiro appeared to have some difficulty early on due to the bobbing and weaving pressure style of Taconing. Taconing consistently forced the combat from the opening bell,  but suffered a cut over the right eye in round three due to an accidental clash of heads. Shiro dropped Toconing with a short counter right hand to the jaw in round four. The challenger got up from the knockdown on unsteady legs, but the fight was stopped by Referee Frank Garza, who determined Toconing was in no condition to continue at 1:00 of the fourth round. Ken Shiro advances to 16-0, with 9 Knockouts. Jonathan Toconing falls to 28-4-1, with 22 Knockouts.

In the 130lb. Jr. Lightweight division Joe Noynay successfully retained his WBO Asia Pacific Jr. Lightweight championship with a sixth round stoppage of previously undefeated Satoshi Shimizu. Official time of the stoppage was 2:18 of round six. Joe Noynay advances to 18-2-1, with 7 Knockouts. Satoshi Shimizu falls to 8-1, with 8 Knockouts.

The main story of this card was of course the rematch between Rob Brant and Ryota Murata. In terms of what the result of this rematch could mean for the rest of the Middleweight division, no one knows. For now, Ryota Murata has retaken the interim/regular champion designation in the WBA’s Middleweight ratings, which in layman’s terms means he is once again the number one contender in the WBA ratings for current unified Middleweight world champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Although this observer looks forward to examining the full and perhaps changing landscape of the 160lb. Middleweight division in the month of August here on The Boxing Truth®️, the type of statement-making performance Murata was able to make in avenging his loss to Rob Brant is surely going to stir up interest in several lucrative bouts among the upper echelon of the Middleweight division. While Rob Brant was stopped by Murata in this rematch one loss against any top Middleweight in what is a talent-deep division does not necessarily mean that Brant cannot regroup. It is now simply a matter of taking some time to evaluate things and then begin the rebuilding process that will determine how long it will be before Brant is again in the discussion of the top Middleweights. For now, he needs time to figure out what went wrong for him in this fight and to recover from the punishment he sustained.

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