Ryota Murata-Rob Brant purse bid scheduled

Ryota Murata’s promoters at Top Rank and Teiken want him to face Jason Quigley on October 20, when Murata fights in Las Vegas on ESPN+, his mandatory WBA “world” middleweight title defense against Rob Brant is due, and the sanctioning body has ordered a purse bid for August 13.

This means that if Murata (14-1, 11 KO) is to face Quigley (14-0, 11 KO) in October, there will have to be a deal made with Brant and his team to step aside for the time being. The idea the promoters have is for Murata to face Quigley, then if successful, face Brant, likely in Japan.

Brant (23-1, 16 KO) was a middleweight on the rise when he took a risk and moved up to 168 to enter the World Boxing Super Series. He was handily outpointed by Juergen Braehmer in the opening round last October.

In March, he returned to action in Minnesota, beating club fighter Colby Courter by first round knockout. He’s a pretty curious mandatory challenger in that he has no real wins of note, but then the WBA “world” title isn’t a real world title, either, so who cares, I guess.