Lucas Browne About To Make History Again..

"Big Daddy" Browne named mandatory for Ruslan Chagaev's belt.

Lucas Browne

It has been a long, painful and sometimes frustrating road for Browne, however now his faith in his own ability and destiny has been repaid after WBA chairman Gilberto Mendoza mandated on Wednesday that Chagaev’s representatives have 30 days to negotiate the fight with Browne.

Although Lucas is a very approachable and pleasant man outside the ring he looks like he'd eat your Granny in the ring.  

Lucas Browne is the former MMA fighter, who won his first boxing contest in 2009 by KO. That has become a familiar outcome for many of his fights since, his record now stands at 22 fights, 22 wins, 19 of which have come by KO or stoppage. Of those 19, only 18 have heard the bell for the start of the 6th round. Impressive stats by anyone's standards. Whilst he would agree himself he isn't Ali, he has tremendous ability, huge power, is trained by Jeff Fenech and promoted by Ricky Hatton via Hatton Promotions.

Fenech told Boxing News in July 2014 - 

"Browne hurts me on the pads more than Tyson, He can be world heavyweight champion" 

- his prophetic words may be about to come true.

Browne's promoter Ricky Hatton (himself no stranger to title fights), had this to say to The Courier-Mail - 

"I’m delighted that Lucas has been made the WBA’s mandatory challenger. 

Chagaev has shown that he’s one of best heavyweights around, but Lucas is a massive puncher and can knock him out. Australia has never had a world champion at heavyweight so this is a chance for Lucas to make history and he’s going to grab it with both hands. 

Lucas is a warrior who’ll fight anyone at any time and he’s been itching to get back in the ring. We’ve had a lot of people asking when they’ll see him fight again and I think the fans will be very pleased now we can reveal what we’ve been working on."

Whilst Hatton was obviously very happy with the announcement, he let his annoyance at fans get the better of him tweeting - @HitmanHatton world titles take time to work on, shame none of the pricks on here know. An army of keyboard promoting know it alls.

He got his man a shot and that is all a fan can ask of a promoter. So fair play...

Chagaev is a very decent fighter, winning the "Regular" belt against Fres Oquendo by majority decision in July last year. He has had 36 fights, winning 33, 20 by KO, with 1 draw. His 2 losses have come against quality opposition, namely Klitschko (in the 9th round) and Povetkin (points after 12 rounds). Whilst he is smaller than Browne he has had a lot of success against much bigger opposition, including getting a decision over the "Beast From The East", 7 foot Nicolay Valuev. Not sure he has met many with the power of Browne though...

A big part of the negotiations for this fight will revolve around where it actually happens. I'm sure Chageav wants the "home advantage", however this fight in Australia would make some serous dollars for both fighters and if promoted right could catch the imagination of many within boxing worldwide, especially in the UK where Lucas has a very strong and loyal backing. The UK would be the second best option for this fight or perhaps the better one in the long term as it would get more exposure being in Europe. A tie up with Warren/BoxNation could be a factor too.

Prediction?

I can see only one outcome and that is a Browne win, late stoppage or a points win would be my bets. He will have to go to places he hasn't been before as Chageav has been and seen it all, Browne will also need to be careful as his tendancy to cut means his defence needs to be spot on. 

On 26th April 2014, I had the great pleasure to meet Lucas Browne before his fight against Eric Martel Bahoeli when he made history becoming the first Australian to be Commonwealth Champ for 122 Years. I fully expect him to create history again by becoming Australia's first ever heavyweight champion.

I wish both fighters well...

   

Three Heavyweights With A Big 2014 Coming Up.

The future looks bright for these three...

So 2014 is upon us and it's looking like a great year is instore for the heavyweight division.

Let's recap on the five I wrote about last Jan...

The five I said would have big years in 2013 were Lucas Browne (now on the brink of the commonwealth title and a possible world title shot). Tyson Fury (one fight last year thanks to the celebrity that is Haye). David Price (who had a big 2013, sadly for him for all the wrong reasons). Robert Helenius (who like Fury only had the one fight last year, however his inactivity was due to injury) and Magomed Abdusalamov who is currently on a very long hard road to recovery after he went into a coma following his last fight in November - I wish him well.

This year I have chosen 3 that I think will have a big year in 2014 - Lucas Browne, Derek Chisora and Deontay Wilder.

Lucas Browne.

Ranked No 11 by the WBC, Lucas had five fights in 2013, four of which ended before the final bell.  The one which went the distance was his UD over 12 rounds against former three-weight world champion James Toney, which was for the lightly regarded WBF title. The highlight of his year was his win against the highly regarded Richard Towers in an eliminator for the commonwealth title, which Browne won by 5th round TKO.

Browne's record now stands at 19 fights, 19 wins, 17 KOs (11 of which have been in the first 3 rounds). After his win over Towers he was next fight should have been against David Price for his Commonwealth Belt, however Price vacated all his titles, while he trys to rebuild his career in Germany with the Sauerland team.

Browne is due to fight for the vacant title in Victoria on the 3rd April. As yet no opponent has been named for the fight, however out of those mentioned and available I fully expect Browne to win and win well. That then leaves his next step...

Last year there was talk of a possible fight with Alex Leapai, however that fight may well be a thing of the past now, especially as Leapai has done a remarkable job in manoeuvring himself into the mandatory challenger for Wlad's WBO belt, a fight expected to take place around April time. Aussie boxing is certainly on the up. 

Lucas has been mentioned in dispatches by both Wilder and Fury in recent months as a possible fight. Whilst I think Wilder is being moved in a different direction, I could see Browne fighting the winner of the possible Fury Vs Chisora fight, which could also be a elimination bout for a shot at one of the titles as mandatory. Once he has fought for the commonwealth a fight Vs Mike Perez would be a good match up.

Lucas has come far in a fairly short period of time. When I wrote a similiar article Jan he was the outsider, now he is very much a main player. Most of what he has achieved has been through his own efforts and without the benefit of a settled corner team, especially a trainer. Once this is solved then I see nothing but great things for Browne. Future Champion Of The World? In my humble opinion - Yes, no doubt.

Derek Chisora.

Chisora has kept himself busy in 2013. He has shown himself to have been fitter and sharper than he has ever been which has resulted in all four of his fights being TKO stoppage wins. Picking up four belts along the way (WBA International Title, WBO International Title, EBU European Title & WBA inter-continental Title), whilst also getting himself ranked in the top 15 by all four of the major bodies, which is no mean feat - No 6 by the WBC, No 14 by the WBA, No 7 by the IBF & No 2 by the WBO - Impressive.     

Chisora's next fight is against Andriy Rudenko in his first defence of his European title. Rudenko has an impressive record on paper of 16 KOs from 24 wins and is classed as "The Klitschko" clone, however he has never fought outside the Ukraine before and whilst anything is possible with one punch in the heavys, I don't see him beating Chisora. (Chiora's opponent was replaced by the durable Kevin Johnson who he fights on 15th Feb).

Next up it is looking very likely that there will be a rematch between Fury and Chisora. Frank Warren would have you believe it is going to be an eliminator fight, it won't be, it would however be a fascinating fight. The original fight in 2011 was for the Commonwealth Title and saw a hugely out of shape Chisora lose to a UD over 12 rounds. With his renewed focus, I see a very different result this time around should the fight happen. 

Of course however, with Chisora being ranked with all four of the main bodies he has a lot of options open to him and perhaps Fury needs him more, Chisora and Warren could go in a different direction and may look at a possible fight with Jennings who is also ranked in the top 15 by all four bodies.

If Chisora can keep his focus then the world is his oyster, he took Vitali to 12th round decision in 2012 and has been in with some top fighters. Of the three I highlight in this article he is perhaps the most experienced, his record is 19 fights, 15 wins, 13 by KO.

Deontay Wilder. 

 

Deontay Wilder is perhaps the dark horse of the three, whilst also possibly the most likely to destroy all challengers no matter if the name is Browne, Chisora or Klitschko. The problem with Wilder is that no-one really knows how good he is yet. He has an incredibly impressive record of 30 fights winning all by KO which can not be taken away, even if the quality of those fighters can be called into question. You can only beat what's in front of you. He is, like Chisora ranked by all four of the world bodies - No 3 WBC, No 7 WBA, No 11 IBF & No 4 WBO.

Wilder has called out Fury lately via twitter, whilst Fury has returned fire, Chisora has called out Wilder via an online open letter and has been told by Wilder to wait his turn, whilst Browne has been mentioned by all them simply replying he'll fight them all. So what next for Wilder?

Wilder has said recently that he would like to fight Tyson Fury in his next fight, although I don't think either people's handlers would want that fight without a belt on the line. Most likely for Wilder is for him to fight the winner of the Stiverne Vs Arreola rematch who will be fighting for the WBC belt vacated by Vitali, would he win a fight against one of those 2 fighters? Wilder certanly thinks he beats Stiverne and has almost gone as far recently to call him a bum. 

Both Stiverne and Arreola are more experienced than Wilder as the biggest name on Wilder's "CV" is Siarhei Liakhovich, closely followed by Audley Harrison, however his power can not be taken for granted and is still very much an unknown quantity. Should he beat either Stiverne or Arreola then I could see a big money clash Vs Fury perhaps in late autumn which would put paid to Fury Vs Chisora, yet might open a door for Browne Vs Chisora. If Wilder can live up the hype, which seems to grow louder with each passing day, then he will be awesome, I am keeping my powder dry for the time being...

So having started out with the intention of writing just about three fighters, I have ended up mentioning 8 heavyweights who could all have a big say in the 2014 heavyweight scence. Of them all I think Chisora is most likely the best boxer, yet in the heavys that is not always the be all and end all, which is why I find it such a great division.

I wish them all well...

Browne Vs Towers - Heavyweight Commonwealth Eliminator.

"Big Daddy" Vs "The Inferno" - 2nd November, Hull.

Richard Towers - Lucas Browne

Next Saturday will hopefully be 3rd time lucky for both Browne and Towers to fight for the chance to face David Price for his Commonwealth Title, with this fight having been postponed twice before, it is a fight I am very much looking forward too.

6′ 4″ Browne brings a record of 17 fights, 17 wins, 15 by KO and is currently ranked 15th by the WBC. His last fight was in July against Travis Walker, a fight that Lucas won in the 7th after dropping Walker 3 times, however he was dropped himself in the first round.

6′ 8″  Towers has a record of 14 fights, 14 wins, 11by KO and is the former EBU- EU heavyweight champ. His last fight was against Tony Gregory for that belt back in June 2012. Many think that ringrust will play an issue with Richard having been out of the ring for so long, however having been busy as a sparring partner with both Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye, I'm not sure that will be a major problem.

Outside the ring both Lucas and Richard are good friends and have sparred several times with each other, however come fight night that will be put to one side as they fight to get that shot at Price. Lucas had this to say to V2Boxing about the bout - “Towers was a complete gentleman when I was last here and we got along very well. I don't want to be fighting Towers but we both understand it has to be done and this is the sport we have chosen. We sparred a few times and I'm sure we have both taken something from those exchanges, but in saying that, it was a while ago now and I know I've improved ten fold from then so it will be interesting. I'm pumped to finally get this fight because I want the Commonwealth title. I don't really care where the fight is, as long as I get a chance to fight for the belt and get a chance to show the world what I can do. I've got a decent following over here and I'm very thankful to the UK fans for getting behind me like they have. When it comes to fight time it doesn't matter where I am, I'm there to do what I do best”.

Matt Clarke (Browne's manager) had this to say to Hatton Promotions, (Ricky Hatton is the promotor for both fighters) - "It certainly is third time lucky, I believe we're going to see a career best performance from Lucas. He's preparing extremely well, without any distractions and he's ready for this next step. His fan base in the UK and Ireland is growing rapidly and a good performance here might see him face defending Commonwealth champion David Price in his next bout."

Richard Towers is certainly looking forward to the fight saying - "I have been hanging in limbo since the Australia fight was called off. I was supposed to fight Johann Duhaupas and that didn't happen so I'm excited about the fight with Lucas being on again. I don't want to slag Lucas off because he's a good guy and I consider him a friend but I think he is getting carried away with the stars a little  because he's banging these guys out"

Whether the winner of this fight will actually face David Price in 2014 for the title is very much up for debate and we will have to wait to see what Price's next move is going to be.

This is certainly going to be an interesting fight and is a clash of styles. Browne goes forward at every opportunity, whilst Towers, likes to use his reach to keep others at bay. With a 4" height advantage Towers is going to attempt to use his reach and his jab to keep the big hitting Lucas at bay, however I feel if Lucas can get inside and work to the body he will get some great success, eventually he'll get to the chin of Towers and that will be that. 

So yes, whilst this is a tight fight on paper I believe that Lucas will have too much power for Towers and whilst the loser of this fight will have a tricky road back it certainly won't be the end of the road, not yet...

I wish them both well.

Lucas Browne - The Dark Horse Of Heavyweight Boxing.

Lucas Browne - The Big Daddy..

Lucas Browne

Lucas Browne was part of a blog I wrote in April 2012 under another name, he is also mentioned in my picks of 2013 - Click here for that blog. I have written a blog about him when he was due to fight Richard Towers in an eliminator for David Price's Commonwealth Belt and I have been a big cheerleader of his on various fans forums, twitter and facebook.

Suffice to say I am a huge fan of "BigDaddy".

Why am I a big fan? Why am I a big fan of a fighter who is based on the other side of the world from where I live? Ask yourself why is Ricky Hatton Lucas' promoter...

Lucas has had 15 fights winning all of those 15, 14 of which he has won by KO. He has a style that I like with a huge punch. Once he connects correctly then there will only be one outcome. His last fight was against the Japanese heavyweight Masataka Takehara who was dispatched by KO in the first round. Takehara had previously fought Alex Leapai, (Australian No1 by some), and had gained a draw over 6 rounds. Lucas' KO of Takehara in the first round should not be swept aside as many are trying to do. 

Alex Leapai

Lucas' manager Matt Clark and promoter Hatton Promotions obviously think he is heading upwards and onwards as his next fight is against James "Lights Out" Toney. Toney is a legend of the ring and although his best years are far behind him this is a big test for Lucas, he has a lot of experience (74 fights), and has never been stopped, (7 defeats). 

"Lights Out" Toney

This is the "name" that Lucas needs to propel him into the same breath as Charr, Wilder, Boytsov & Helenius, who are all seen as potential world title challengers. In my very honest opinion Browne beats Wilder, Boytsov and Helenius now. Charr will come with a few fights more to gain experience.

I see Browne being the first boxer to KO Toney and then he will have to relocate to Europe to further his career. To have a 16-0 record with 15 stoppages will alert a lot of people in and around the myriad of belts and titles, I could see a shot at the commonwealth title next and then 2 more fights before a title shot, perhaps against Fury...

Time will tell. First he needs to dispatch Toney and then perhaps look at a fight with the like of Ruslan Chagaev or similar in the UK to futher enhance his profile.

Heading for the top...

What I can say without doubt is that Lucas is quite clearly a ferocious talent with TNT in his fists, who will have a shot at the title.

I wish him well... 

Edit - Browne easily defeated Toney with a unanimous points decision, winning every round of the fight.

Browne Vs Toney - Full Fight, CLICK HERE.

With thanks to Hattonboxing.com  for the video..

Edit - Lucas will fight Richard Towers on 25th July in an eliminator for the commonwealth title.