Brant anticipates another learning experience and win on ShoBox
From prospect to contender, there’s no proven path. No real timetable either.
“There are only victories,” middleweight Rob Brant says. “I don’t have a timetable. I just have fights I have to win.”
One of those fights is Friday night at Casino del Sol in Tucson where the unbeaten Brant (18-0, 11 KOs) takes another step up against DeCarlo Perez in the main event of a ShoBox card (Showtime 10:35 p.m. ET/PT) also featuring heavyweight Jerrell Miller (15-0-1, 13 KOs) against Donovan Dennis (12-2, 10 KOs).
Brant, a National Golden Gloves champion from Minnesota who turned pro in 2012, makes his second straight appearance in a ShoBox main event after a scoring a majority decision over Louis Rose on Oct 23 in Phoenix.
“The Rose fight was the toughest one I’ve had as a pro,” said Brant, whose amateur career included a reported 102-22 record and an appearance in the 2009 World Championships in Milan. “Louis is good fighter. I had to have everything I Iearned as an amateur to win that one. Maybe one day, we’ll fight again”
Brant, who has been sparring with hot prospect Errol Spence Jr., said he expects a test from Perez, an Atlantic City fighter promoted by Russell Peltz. Perez is attempting to win his fifth straight bout.
“The idea is to just keep learning and winning,” Brant said. “Winning takes care of everything.”
Miller, nicknamed “Big Baby”, has some other ideas. He’s in a rush to crash the heavyweight party that has become something of a free-for-all since Tyson Fury’s upset of Wladimir Klitschko in November.
Miller says he wasn’t impressed by WBC champion Deontay Wilder’s stoppage of Artur Spizlka Saturday in Brooklyn, N.Y. Meanwhile, Charles Martin won a vacant version (IBF) of the heavyweight title when Vyacheslav Glazkov suffered a knee injury in the third round, also in Brooklyn.
Safe to say, Miller plans to be a lot more convincing against Dennis than Martin was against Glazkov.