By Scott Gilfoid: Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte is complaining that former heavyweight champion Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne is suddenly pricing himself out of their agreed upon fight on March 24 at the O2 Arena in London, England. Whyte (22-1, 16 KOs) isn’t saying how much the unbeaten former WBA champion Browne (25-0, 22 KOs) is asking for to take the fight.
A lot of boxing fans had the impression the Whyte-Browne fight was a done deal. Whyte’s Tweet last Thursday gave the impression that the Browne fight was in the bag, but I guess Whyte spoke too soon.
”Wishing everybody a great Xmas & a happy New Year except that [expletive] Lucas Browne, who after agreeing the money, is now pricing himself out #Coward,” said Whyte.
Whyte should have waited before he started yapping about the Browne fight taking place. Until your opponent agrees to your contract offer, it’s not a done deal. Whyte is learning a hard lesson here. He should have told his followers last Thursday that he hopes the fight with Browne would get done, and not assume that he would agree to the initial offer.
Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn wasn’t counting his chicks before they were hatched when he spoke of the Whyte-Browne fight on Friday. Hearn said to IFL TV, “It looks like the 24th at the O2,” in talking about the fight. Hearn didn’t say it was a done deal.
If Hearn can come with a better offer that is to Browne’s liking, then the fight will get done. Short of that, Whyte might want to start pressing Hearn to match him against his new Matchroom Sport stable fighter Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller, who has already said he wants to fight Whyte.
If Whyte needs an opponent for March 24, he should urge Hearn to give Miller a ring, and offer the same deal he was going to give to ‘Big Daddy’ Browne to take the fight. My guess is Miller would jump at the chance to face Whyte and add his scalp to his growing collection. Of course, that could wind up being a tougher fight for Whyte, as Miller has got huge power, especially when he’s weighing around 300 pounds. If the 6’4” Miller comes into the fight at 300, Whyte will be in trouble.
Browne is a top heavyweight. Getting him to agree to a fight with Whyte on March 24 is likely going to set Hearn back a pretty penny. If Hearn can come up with enough loot to make it worthwhile for Browne, he’ll gladly take the fight with Whyte. I don’t know if Hearn can come up with the right offer to get Browne to agree to the fight with Whyte. I mean, you’re not going to get a talent like Browne on the cheap. We’re talking about a highly rated unbeaten former heavyweight world champion. Browne isn’t one of Whyte’s domestic level opponents.
Whyte is coming off of a less than impressive win over Robert Helenius on October 28. Whyte was staggered in that fight, and he struggled for the entire match with Helenius’ size.