Lucas Browne’s management wants Haye, Fury or Joshua

By Boxing News - 03/07/2016 - Comments

browne54By Scott Gilfoid: With 42-year-old Fres Oquendo’s status unclear for him being able to be ready by June, the management for newly crowned WBA heavyweight champion Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne (24-0, 21 KOs) are looking at other potential fights for Browne’s first defense of his WBA title in the next three months or so.

Browne knocked out champion Ruslan Chagaev (34-3-1, 21 KOs) in the 10th round last Saturday night to claim his WBA heavyweight title in Grozny, Russia. Browne was losing the fight, and had been knocked out previously in the 10th round.

Oquendo is coming off of shoulder surgery, and he might not be ready to face the 36-year-old Browne by June, which is when the World Boxing Association wants the fight to take place by. Oquendo is an opponent that Browne has to face as part of the WBA’s heavyweight tournament they’ve set up.

Browne’s promoters at Hatton Promotions like the idea of putting him in a big money fight for his first defense against the likes of David Haye, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder. Those fights would likely make a lot more money for Browne than a contest against Oquendo, who is not someone that will likely attract a lot of interest.

Brendan Bourke of Hatton Promotions is looking at the possibility to see if Browne can face a bigger name for his first defense rather than Oquendo. It might not be possible for Browne to face someone else for his next fight, but they’re going to look into it.

“I know Ricky is already talking to Fres Oquendo and he is the mandatory but that is not going to be a big money fight,” said Bourke to au.news.yahoo.com. “(Browne’s purse) probably wouldn’t even be as big as he got to fight in Chechnya and he’s now the champ. Hatton Promotions will want to get the biggest pay days possible. It’s a delicate situation. But he can get the big fights in boxing now with Joshua, David Haye, Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.”

Well, you can forget about Deontay being free to fight Browne in the summer, because he has a title defense coming up around that time against his #1 WBC challenger Alexander Povetkin. I think Wilder would normally jump at the chance to fight the likes of Browne, but he can’t do that because of the Povetkin fight. Joshua has a fight on April 9 next month against IBF champion Charles Martin. If Joshua wins that fight, then he’s already said that he would be interested in facing Haye. As far as Browne facing Haye, I don’t see Haye agreeing to that fight. He’s likely going to wait for the cash out fight against Joshua rather than risk his hide fighting a dangerous puncher like Browne.

I can certainly understand why Browne and his management would want to get the biggest payday possible. Browne isn’t one of those champions where you can guarantee with a high degree of certainty that he’s going to win. Even an aging heavyweight like Oquendo has to be seen as a very real threat to Browne. Oquendo has superb boxing skills, and I think he could very well outbox Browne over 12 rounds.

I don’t see Oquendo knocking Browne out, but I definitely think Oquendo would have an excellent chance of beating him by a decision if his surgically repaired shoulder holds up. For Browne to beat Oquendo, he would need to actually go after him and try and outwork him and knock him out. If Browne fights the way he did last Saturday night against Oquendo, he’ll lose the fight.

You do not want to try and box someone like Oquendo, because he’s very good at that. The guys that have beaten Oquendo in the past were fighters that put a lot of pressure on him and outworked him. These are the fighters that beat Oquendo in the past: Chagaev, Jean Marc Mormeck, Oliver McCall, James Toney, Evander Holyfield, John Ruiz and David Tua.

“We will know in the next 1-2 weeks what the next movement will be. And remember, Oquendo is still returning from major shoulder surgery – he may not be fit to fight,” said Bourke.

I have a feeling that Browne will need to defend against Oquendo next. I also think that Browne will lose that fight if he tries to box Oquendo, which he probably will. Browne made his job much harder last Saturday night against Chagaev by boxing the 37-year-old Russian fighter rather than using his size and punching power to try and take him out. I was frankly surprised that Browne didn’t make any adjustments in his game after he fell behind in the first six rounds. He got dropped by Chagaev in the 6th round with one of the few solid shots Chagaev landed in the fight. The situation was dire by the 10th round, and yet Browne was still boxing Chagaev instead of looking to KO him by putting pressure on him. Browne was fighting in a submissive manner in the 10th, when he caught Chagaev with a right hand that badly hurt him.



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