By Norm Frauenheim–
PHOENIX, Ariz. – For Rob Brant, there was only relief. For Louis Rose, there was only frustration. For both, there were only cheers from a Celebrity Theatre crowd entertained by the middleweights throughout a close battle in a ShoBox-televised bout Friday night.
In the end, Brant’s experience appeared to just enough for a majority decision over Rose, whose corner men stormed out of the ring in anger at the 96-94, 95-95, 96-94 scores.
“He’s tough to beat and I knew he would be,’’ said Brant (18-0, 11 KOs), a Saint Paul, Minn., fighter and 2010 national Golden Gloves champion who relied on his educated jab for a narrow victory. “It seemed like every time I hurt him, he came back storming back.’’
In the end, one question was inevitable:
What about a rematch?
“It’s not up to me,’’ Brant said. “I’ll leave that up to my management.’’
Initially, Rose (13-3-1, 5 KOs) didn’t want to talk. He said he was too disappointed.
But when asked about a rematch, he didn’t hesitate.
“Oh, yeah, absolutely,’’ he shouted in his crowded dressing room.
For Brant’s management, however, there’s risk in another bout with Rose, whose life on the Los Angeles streets included eight months when he slept in old car.
Rose, who has no amateur experience, only figures to get better.
His quick feet and athleticism made him an elusive target in the early rounds against Brant repeated missed with right hands. Over the last five rounds, Brant began to catch Rose with head-rocking lefts. Yet, Rose was always able to quickly recover with combinations of his own.
On the televised undercard, Brooklyn heavyweight Jarrell Miller (15-0-1, 13 KOs) lived up to the first half of his Big Baby nickname. He was way too big for Ahror Muralimov (14-2, 11 KOs) of Taskkent. The 280-pound Miller walked down Muralimov, stopping him out with an overhand right in the third round.
The Rest
Light-heavyweight Samuel Clarkson (17-3, 11 KOs) of Cedar Hills, Tex., scored a second-round stoppage of Lavarn Harvell (15-2, 8 KOs) of Atlanatic City, N.J.
Phoenix super-featherweight Keenan Carbajal (8-2, 5 KOs), wearing the white trunks with red lettering once worn by Hall of Famer Michael Carbajal, used his leverage, scoring a couple big knockdowns for a third-round KO of Angel Monrreal 5-7, 3 KOs) of Mexico.
Las Vegas welterweight Jeremy Nichols (1-0, 1 KO) was credited with three knockdowns in the first round for some quick work in his debut — a stoppage of Jeremiah Davis (0-1), a Phoenix fighter whose stumbled more often than he threw punches.
Tough super-bantamweight Jose Silveria (16-18, 7 KOs) of Mexico threw harder shots and landed them often enough for a majority decision over Emilio Garcia (9-2, 2 KOs) of Phoenix .