Rob "Bravo" Brant crashed the world boxing scene last October with a dominant decision over Ryota Murata to win the WBA middleweight title. For title defense number one, he returned to his home state and sent the partisan crowd home happy. (photos by Mikey Williams).

Brant (25-1, 16 KOs) cruised to an 11th-round TKO over Khasan Baysangurov (17-1, 7 KOs) Friday evening at the Grand Casino Hinckley, a short drive from Brant's hometown of St. Paul.

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A sold-out crowd of 2,225 watched as Brant overwhelmed Baysangurov with consistent, effective pressure. In the 11th, Baysangurov, who was knocked down in the second round, could not keep Brant at bay. A knockdown and a follow-up attack, punctuated by a right hand, forced referee Mark Nelson to stop the fight.

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Joshua "Don't Blink" Greer Jr. (20-1-1, 12 KOs) extended his knockout streak to seven and defended his WBC Continental Americas bantamweight title with an eighth-round stoppage of Giovanni Escaner (19-4, 12 KOs).

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Greer landed a right uppercut to the stomach that put Escaner down for the count. Escaner had the momentum early, dropping Greer with a looping right hand as the bell sounded to end the third round.

Greer took charge in the middle rounds and ended things with one blow.

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At the time of the stoppage, Greer was ahead 67-66 and 67-65 (2X).

Mikaela Mayer (10-0, 4 KOs) won an old-fashioned, toe-to-toe battle, grinding down Yareli Larios (13-2-1, 3 KOs) to prevail via eight-round unanimous decision and defend her NABF super featherweight belt.

The scores were as followed: 80-72, 79-73, and 78-74.

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