The World Boxing Association (WBA) Championships Committee ordered, this August 1st, a purse bid to secure a match between the Japanese fighter Ryota Murata and the American Robert Brant for the WBA middleweight title.

Murata is the current champion of the division and won his title after beating the Cameroonian French resident Hassan N’Dam, whom he defeated in seven rounds on October 22nd, 2017, in Japan. Subsequently, he made the first defense of his WBA belt against the Italian Emanuele Felice Blandamura, a fighter whom he dispatched in the eighth round by technical knockout on April 14th, 2018, in Yokohama.

For his part, Brant occupies the number two spot of the WBA rankings at 160 pounds, below the Mexican Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who on September 15th will fight for the WBA Super Championship of the division against the Kazakh Gennady Golovkin. The American gladiator has been the WBA-NABA champion of the middleweight division and in 24 battles he was defeated only by former German world champion Juergen Braehmer. In 23 other fights he won them all, with16 of them having been knockouts.

The bid has a minimum of 200 thousand dollars and the purse will be distributed 50% for each boxer. The same will take place on March 13 in Panama City and will be directed by Aurelio Fiengo.