By Jim Dower: #2 WBA Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne (23-0, 20 KOs) will be challenging for the title this Saturday night against WBA World heavyweight champion Ruslan “White Tyson” Chagaev (34-2-1, 21 KOs) in a fight at the Colosseum Sport Hall, in Grozny, Russia. This is a big deal for the 36-year-old Browne because he’s wanted to fight for a world title since he turned pro seven years ago in 2009.
Browne is finally getting a chance and he wants to make the most of this opportunity. At 6’5”, 255lbs, Browne has the size and the punching power to get the 36-year-old Chagaev out of there quick if the Russian fighter decides he wants to stand and trade with him.
Knowing Chagaev, he likely will accommodate Browne by looking to slug with him. If Browne catches Chagaev with anything big in the early going, then we could see Chagaev start to box so that he doesn’t get hit with anything too big.
Chagaev looked very good in his last fight against the 6’5” Francesco Pianeta last July. Chagaev knocked Pianeta down several times in the round before the fight was stopped. Even Wladimir Klitschko didn’t dispatch Pianeta in a similar fashion. It took Wladimir six rounds to stop Pianeta in their fight in 2013, and that was when Wladimir was still more or less in his prime. The southpaw Chagaev was able to drop Pianeta over and over again until the fight was halted.
Running order up tomorrow for Chagaev v @bigdaddybrowne1 – We're expecting the main event to start approx 8.45pm pic.twitter.com/sbZJPafWz5
— BoxNation (@boxnationtv) March 1, 2016
Browne brings impressive knockout power to the ring with him on Saturday. He’s knocked out 10 out of his last 12 opponents dating back to 2012. The only guys to make it the full distance with Browne from 2012 to 2016 is James Toney and Andriy Rudenko. Those fighters had to take some enormous shots from Browne in order to make it the distance with him. It’s not surprising that Browne wasn’t able to KO Toney because he’s never been stopped before in his long pro career before.
In Browne’s last five fights, he’s beaten Julius Long, Chauncy Welliver, Andriy Rudenko, Eric Martel Bahoeli, Clarence Tillman. Browne’s experience against upper level opposition is clearly lacking. He’s not faced anyone of real quality as of yet. Being in the ring with Toney was obviously a good learning tool for Browne, but Toney was too short, and much too old to be any real value for Browne. Rudenko is probably the best fighter that Browne has faced as a pro.
Their fight was a really grueling one because Rudenko was able to take Browne’s best power shots and answer back with his own. This forced Browne to take a lot of punishment himself. He gutted it out and was able to pound out the victory in winning by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 115-113, 116-112 and 117-112. Browne did not look that great in the fight, but he did what he had to in order to earn the victory.
Chagaev will need to stay mobile in this fight if he wants to win. He’s not going to be able to beat Browne by slugging it out with him. He’s going to need to box and move. If he uses the same fighting style he employed against Pianeta, then this could be a very hard fight for him. Browne likes to slug and he’s more than capable of doing that all night long if Chagaev lets him.
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