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Rob Brant stops Alexis Hloros in first round

Fighters Network
22
Jan

Middleweight standout Rob Brant returned to action Friday night, stopping Alexis Hloros in the opening round of their main event before a crowd of more than 3,000 at the Grand Casino in Hinckley, Minnesota.

With the win, Brant improves to 22-0, with 15 knockouts. Hloros drops to 18-6-2, 12 KOs.

It was all Brant from the opening bell, putting Hloros on the defensive with multiple combinations to the head and body. A left hook to the body dropped Hloros to the canvas. Hloros was able to get up at the count of nine, but was in no condition to continue.

Official time of the stoppage was 2:53.



Friday was Brant’s fourth consecutive knockout win. Originally from nearby St. Paul, Brant trains in the Dallas area with coach Derrick James, who also trains unbeaten welterweight Errol Spence.

Brant is ranked No. 3 by the WBA and No. 5 by the WBO.

Also on the Greg Cohen Promotions card, hard-hitting junior middleweight Skender Halili stopped Romon Barber in the fifth round.

Halili, who has now won his last five bouts, improves to 13-1, 13 KOs. Barber falls to 7-13, 6 KOs.

Utilizing a five-inch height advantage, Halili rained punches down on Barber. Halili also connected with vicious uppercuts, which Barber absorbed well. As the fight progressed, Halili’s punches began to take their toll as Barber’s punch output decreased.

An uppercut from Halili in Round 5 staggered Barber backwards into the ropes. Halili let his punches go on a defenseless Barber until the referee stepped in and stopped the bout.

Halili’s aggressive and hard-hitting style makes for fun fights. Round 2 of his May 27 clash with Jason Thompson, where Halili was dropped twice before winning by knockout in the same round, was voted as The Round of the Year for 2016 by The Ring magazine.

Undercard results:

Junior lightweight Duarn Vue (11-0-2, 4 KOs) stopped Lance Williams (7-7, 7 KOs) in the second round.

Junior welterweight DeLorien Caraway won a six round majority decision over Deonte Wilson (5-2, 3 KOs). One judge scored the bout 57-57, while the other two judges scored the bout 59-55 and 58-56 in favor of Caraway, who improves to 8-1, 5 KOs.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing   

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