Brandon Glanton readily admits that his fondest moment to date was driven by a personal disdain for the man with whom he shared the ring.
Whereas the hard-hitting cruiserweight Glanton took tremendous pride in dragging it out of Marcus Browne last October, there comes a greater sense of pride from what he plans to accomplish on Sunday. A win over lineal and Ring Magazine 200lbs champion Jai Opetaia is considerably less personal than it is career validation.
“Everyone will give me my respect after this fight,” Glanton told BoxingScene. “We’ve been through a lot – ups, downs, in between. So it’s all for this moment here. It’s fantabulous.”
Opetaia-Glanton will headline “Zuffa Boxing 04” Sunday on Paramount+ from the Meta APEX in Las Vegas. The scheduled 12-round contest will come with the Ring championship and inaugural Zuffa title at stake, though not the IBF belt after the organization withdrew its sanctioning from the fight on Friday.
Regardless of the belts on the line, Opetaia, 29-0 (23 KOs), is the universally recognized cruiserweight champion and the division’s top fighter. An Australian southpaw, Opetaia will attempt the eighth defense of his lineal and Ring championships, while the hard-luck Glanton, 21-3 (18 KOs), is entering his first major title fight.
A 34-year-old bruiser from Atlanta, Glanton was on the doorstep a couple of times.
He suffered a setback, however, when he dropped a split decision to David Light in their December 2022 battle of unbeaten cruiserweights. A win would have seen Glanton immediately challenge then-WBO 200lbs titlist Lawrence Okolie, who instead faced and defeated Light just three months later.
For Glanton, it ended a perfect run that included his epic June 2021 thriller with Efotober Apochi, whom he defeated via split decision live on linear Fox TV. The win came in a Fight of the Year contender and put Glanton on the map as a cruiserweight to watch.
However, it was his recent beatdown of Browne, 25-3 (16 KOs) – a former secondary WBA 175lbs titlist – that represents Glanton’s greatest career memory thus far.
“Being honest, the proudest moment of my career, probably beating Marcus Browne,” Glanton insisted of his knockout victory last October in Lagos, Nigeria. “Beating Opetaia will reap its own rewards, obviously, but the sweetness of what I felt that night, I don’t think I’ll feel like that about another opponent. I don’t like bullies and,…
2026-03-08 11:00:00
Brandon Glanton: ‘Everyone will give me my respect after this fight’
