Rob Brant won the WBA Middleweight championship with a 12-round unanimous decision over reigning champion Ryota Murata at the Park Theatre in Las Vegas.
In round one, Murata had swelling around the left eye. Brant out worked and Murata and continued to bust Murata up with hard combinations. Murata fought back, but it seemed every time Murata would land two shots, Brant would coe back with four. Brant took just about every round as he took the fight 119-109 twice and 118-110.
Brant, 158.4 lbs of St. Paul, MN is 24-1. Murata, 159.2 lbs of Nura, JAP is 14-2.
“This is one of the best moments of my life,” Brant said. “I wasn’t thinking about punch output. I was thinking about winning,
“This was a great middleweight championship fight,” said Top Rank CEO Bob Arum. “Both fighters showed tremendous heart. Congratulations to the new champion. He deserved the win.”
Maxim Dadashev won a 10-round unanimous decision over former world champion Antonio DeMarco in a junior welterweight bout.
Dadashev, 138.6 lbs of Oxnard, CA won by scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94, and is now 12-0. DeMarco, 139.6 lbs of Tijuana, MEX is 33-7-1.
“This was a great learning experience for me,” Dadashev said. “DeMarco is a true champion, and he fought with great heart and determination.”
Esquiva Falcao remained perfect by winning a 10 round unanimous decision over Guido Pitto in a middleweight bout.
Falcao, 160.4 lbs of Vitoria, BRA won by scores of 100-90 on all cards, and is now 22-0. Pitto, 158.6 lbs of Buenos Aires, ARG is 25-6-2.
Michael Conlan stopped Nicola Cipoletta in round seven of a scheduled eight-round featherweight bout.
Conland landed a flurry of punches, and the bout was stopped at 1:55.
Conlan, 126.4 lbs of Dublin, IRE is 7-0 with six knockouts. Cipoletta, 125.4 lbs of Napoli, ITA is 14-7-2.
“When you fight a guy who is negative and trying to survive, those guys are the hardest guys to look good against,” Conlan said. “He was just negative. Now, I want real opponents. I want top 10, top 15 opponents. These are the guys who are going to make me look good. These are the guys who are going to bring out the best of my technical ability. When you see guys trying to survive, it’s a lot easier to survive than fight it out.”
Vladimir Nikitin won a six-round unanimous decision over Clay Burns in a featherweight bout.
Scores were 59-55 on all cards for Nikitin, 126.6 lbs of Oxnard, CA and is now 2-0. Burns, 1256 lbs of Alexandra, LA is 5-5-2.
Good looking prospect Joseph Adorno won a six-round unanimous decision over Kevin Cruz in a lightweight bout.
Adorno scored a knockdown with a left hand in the final round, and he went on to win by scores of 59-53 twice and 58-54.
Adorno, 132.8 lbs of Allentown, PA went the distance for the 1st time and is 10-0. Cruz, 132.2 lbs of Waterloo, IA is 8-1.
Adorno said: “I felt great going the distance for the first time. I wasn’t tired at all and got the job done. I am very happy with my performance.”
Adam Lopez stopped Hector Ambriz in the eighth and final round of their featherweight bout.
The time of the finish was 1:29 for Lopez, 126.4 lbs of Glendale, CA who is now 11-1 with five knockouts. Ambriz, 126.4 lbs of Mexico is 12-8-2.
David Kaminsky stopped Noah LaCoste in round two of their scheduled four-round middleweight bout.
Kaminsky dropped LaCoste in each round, and referee Kenny Bayless stopped the bout 40 seconds into round two.
Kaminsky, 159 lbs of Los Angles, CA is 3-0 with two knockouts. LaCoste, 158.5 lbs of Houma, LA is 2-1.
* Kaminsky scored knockdown with uppercut in round 1. LaCoste stopped on his feet in the second.
