A pair of promotional signings have happened or are in the works.
ESPN’s Dan Rafael is by extension Top Rank’s Dan Rafael, much as he might object to the label. It is just the nature of the business. That can be a problematic reality sometimes, but one positive is that we can pretty much take all his Top Rank speculation as fact when it comes to the basics. While I normally wait until news breaks as official as I believe the lack of gossip or clickbait here is what separates S8C, Rafael’s reporting that Rob Brant (24-1, 16 KOs) and his team are “inclined to go with” Top Rank’s co-promotional offer to work alongside Greg Cohen going forward might as well be official if he is printing it.
The Minnesota native was a promising prospect in early 2017 with ShoBox success and highlight reel knockouts under his belt when he surprisingly moved up to super middleweight to compete in the season one World Boxing Super Series tournament at the weight. He ended up in with solid German fighter Juergen Braehmer on the road in Germany. Braehmer was coming down from light heavyweight as Brant was coming up from middleweight too. Altogether it was too much for Rob and he lost a wide, not all that competitive decision.
That fight seemed to end the hype for Brant as a prospect, but it proved to only be only a temporary set back. Back down at middleweight, secondary titleholder and Olympic gold medalist Ryota Murata and his team chose Brant as the opponent to showcase the Japanese star against in Las Vegas for American audiences. It was not the right choice. Rob Brant relit his career by absolutely dominating Murata all around the ring about a month ago now. It was a complete and one sided performance over the Top Rank co-promoted A-side.
Apparently since the win Brant and his relatively small promoter Greg Cohen have been fielding co-promotional offers from the powerhouses of the sport. Dan Rafael cited Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing as having made an offer, but Brant and Cohen reportedly have their heart set on Top Rank. It makes sense that both have been pursuing him given that they both have been actively expanding their rosters to fill the large number of dates they owe DAZN and ESPN.
It would seem to me that the interesting fights for Brant reside in the other direction on DAZN with Matchroom as the likes of Canelo Alvarez, Danny Jacobs, Demetrius Andrade, and David Lemieux are more compelling than the ESPN affialiated fighters of Billy Joe Saunders, Ryota Murata, and… uh… Esquiva Falcao? Gennady Golovkin’s looming decision on where to sign is still pending too, of course. Regardless, Rob Brant is almost assuredly going to Top Rank and ESPN. That’ll open him up to Frank Warren and Zanfer fighters from the UK and Mexico respectively. Ryota Murata and his team’s at Top Rank and Teiken have until the end of the year to decide if they are going to activate his mandatory rematch clause with Brant as well.
Far away from Minnesota has been the rise of Ghanian lightweight contender Emmanuel Tagoe (29-1, 14 KOs). The 29 year old has only fought outside of Ghana once, but he has largely cleared out the solid domestic scene there including recently dominating former titleholder Paulus Moses. That is the same Moses who was quite competitive with Ray Beltran in a title opportunity earlier this year. Tagoe, whose one loss came via knockout in his pro debut, has signed with DiBella Entertainment and will very likely be moving his career stateside going forward. He previously fought in the US once in 2013 on a Gary Shaw Friday Night Fights card. Lou DiBella isn’t the power player in the modern landscape that he once was, but he has a decent sized roster gets his guys opportunities when they are ready. He also has a close relationship with Premier Boxing Champions and promotes some of their cards without being exclusively their slave like say TGB Promotions. This is a big step towards top of the sport relevancy for the talented Ghanaian.
