By Scott Gilfoid: A fight between former WBA World heavyweight champion Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne (27-1, 24 KOs) and domestic level heavyweight Dave Allen (16-4, 13 KOs) is in the works for the Matchroom Boxing promoted card April 13 at Wembley Stadium in London, UK, according to Michael Benson.
This is a tremendous drop off for the 39-year-old Browne from where he was at three years ago in 2016 when he was briefly the WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight champion after being Ruslan Chagaev by a 10th round knockout.
This is the card that IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is tentatively supposed to be headlining, but it’s now looking more and more like he’s going to bail from that card and fight instead in June against fellow Matchroom stable fighter Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs)
Before facing the 26-year-old Allen on April 13, the Australian Browne will be taking a tune-up fight in March, possibly against journeyman Tom Little (10-7, 3 KOs). That’s a winnable fight for Browne. Little, 31, has lost his last three fights, all by knockout, against David Price, Daniel Dubois and Filip Hrgovic.
Browne will be working with Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn as part of fighting Allen on April 13. It would seem that Browne is being plumped up to be picked apart by the younger Allen. Browne will be turning 40-years-old on April 14, and he might not have too much left in the sport. Heavyweights tend to have longer careers than other fighters in the lower weight classes, but still that’s an advanced age even for that division.
You don’t see too many 40-year-old fighters still competing in any division. Yeah, there are some, but not a lot, and they generally don’t do ell. Allen is a pretty simple slugger that should be an easy win for Browne, but maybe not. Browne looked something awful in his sixth round knockout loss to Dillian Whyte last year in March 2018.
Whyte didn’t need to do much to knockout the overweight looking Browne in that fight. Browne made Whyte look a lot better than he actually is. It was kind of a surprise that Browne took the fight looking as flabby as he was. He either didn’t realize that he needed to be in shape or he was simply overconfident.
If Joshua pulls out of the April 13 card at Wembley to fight Miller in June in New York, it’s going to be interesting to see who Hearn brings in to headline the Wembley card. It obviously won’t be Whyte vs. Allen. That fight wouldn’t attract more than small handful of hardcore boxing fans curious to see if Allen can beat a former world champion.
Browne is currently unranked in the top 15 at heavyweight. He’s won his last two fights in beating Junior Pati and Julius Long by knockout.
Allen, one of Hearn’s favorites, has won his last three fights in beating Ariel Esteban Bracamonte, Samir Nebo and Nick Webb. Allen’s fourth round knockout win over Nick Webb last July was a big surprise, as a lot of boxing fans expected him to lose that fight. Allen’s punching power was too much for Webb. For a change, Allen was in good shape for that fight. Allen was stopped in the 10th round by 2016 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist Tony Yoka.
Allen lost to Lenroy Thomas by a 12 round split decision in July 2017 in a one-sided fight. Forget about the split decision jazz, the fight was as one-sided as you’ll ever see. Allen was totally dominated by Thomas. In their rematch last March, the fight was stopped in the 1st round after Allen suffered a bad cut from a clash of head in the opening round. The fight was ruled a technical draw. It’s a good thing that the fight ended that way, as Allen would have had a hard time with Thomas if the fight had gone the distance.
It’s unclear what the end game is for Hearn in keeping Allen on his Matchroom Boxing stable. Is Hearn hoping to put together a few wins for Allen over weak opposition before throwing him in with Anthony Joshua for a title shot? If Hearn doesn’t at least put Allen in with some good heavyweight contenders, he’s going to take a heap of criticism from boxing fans if he sets him up with a title shot against Joshua. The problem is, Allen would likely lose to any of the top contenders in the division.