Deontay Wilder: Lucas Browne might be my next opponent

By Boxing News - 06/23/2015 - Comments

wilderBy Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (34-0, 33 KOs) says he’s interested in facing #6 WBC contender Lucas Browne (22-0, 19 KOs) because the trash talking the Australian fighter has been doing as of late has made it personal for him. Wilder would like nothing better than to get the 36-year-old Browne inside the ring so that he can test his power shots on his chin.

Browne is currently waiting on getting a crack at the WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev, and it’s doubtful that he would be willing to accept a far more dangerous fight against the 6’7” Wilder.

It’s too dangerous of a fight for Browne, and I suspect he’ll play it safe and wait for the smoke to clear from the Chagaev vs. Francesco Pianeta on July 11th rather than take a fight against Wilder that he could very well lose quite badly.

“Lucas Browne is just looking for an opportunity. He don’t believe in himself,” Wilder said via Jazzy Jeff. “I’m telling you right now that nobody who trains out of his own garage is going to beat me. Lucas Browne will never beat me. I hope he climbs into the ring to get the opportunity [to face me], because that’s one of the things that would be personal to me. He will never be a champ as well, not the WBC champ.”

Wilder’s adviser Al Haymon could likely lure Browne into the ring against Wilder if he offers him enough money to accept the fight, but I don’t know that it’s a fight that would do anymore for Wilder’s popularity than matching him against other unknowns like Artur Szpilka, Carlos Takam, Johann Duhaupas or Kyotaro Fujimoto. Those are all top 15 contenders that the WBC has ranked at this time. Browne would be no better or no worse than any of those guys, so it doesn’t make much sense in giving him good cash to take a fight against Wilder when they can get someone like Duhaupas or Fujimoto for possibly less money.

“Most of those guys need money and they’re going to say whatever they’ve got to say,” Wilder said. “Lucas Browne maybe my next opponent. Lucas has a long ways to go. He’s always talking about his power. The last time I checked, I got the biggest knockout ratio in boxing,” Wilder said.

Browne can dish it out for sure, but he doesn’t look so great when taking big shots in return. Travis Walker dropped Browne in the 1st round of their fight in 2013. Eric Martel Bahoeli gave Browne a ton of problems in their fight in 2014, as did Andriy Rudenko. All those fighters gave Browne tons of problems.

Wilder’s height, reach and one-punch power would be a real nightmare for Browne, and I have a feeling that he’d be knocked out in the 1st or 2nd round like Wilder did to Sergey Liakhovich.

“We saw Deontay Wilder the other day and he didn’t look that good,” Ricky Hatton said to Skysports.com. “I think if Lucas had have boxed Wilder that night, Lucas would have knocked him out.”

I don’t agree. If that had been Browne in the ring with Wilder rather than Eric Molina, I think Wilder would have stepped on the gas and looked to take Browne out in the 1st round rather than carrying him to the 9th like he did with Molina.