By Jeff Aranow: Former WBA World heavyweight champion Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne (27-1, 24 KOs) will be in action tonight in facing the capable Kamil Sokolowski (6-14-2, 3 KOs) in a six round fight at the Trump Turnberry, in Turnberry, Scotland.
This is a tune-up fight for the 39-year-old ‘Big Daddy’ Browne to get him ready for a much bigger challenge against David ‘White Rhino’ Allen (16-4-2, 13 KOs) for later this year. Allen, 26, has turned his career around with three consecutive wins, and it looking hard to beat. Browne will have his hands filled when the time comes for him to share the ring with the hard hitting dynamo. That’s a fight that Browne could very well lose if he can’t match Allen’s high pace.
Browne has shown some stamina problems recently in his fights against Junior Pati, Julius Long and Dillian Whyte. If Browne can’t turn it up notch against Allen, he’s going to get bludgeoned into submission. Since losing to Tony Yoka last June by a 10th round knockout, Allen has gotten serious about his training and condition, and won his last three fights by knockout in beating Samir Nebo, Nick Webb and Ariel Esteban Bracamonte.
Browne needs to look good tonight in facing the 32-year-old Sokolowski, who is coming off of a big third round TKO win over Nick Webb in his last fight in December of last year. Webb is a big puncher, and a fine heavyweight. For Sokolowski to have knocked him out, it shows that he’s turned things around with his career. Before that fight, Sokolowski had lost twice in a row to Mark Bennett and Nathan Gormon. Those are good fighters, and it’s not surprising that Sokolowski lost to them. He appears to be showing improvement in his game. Sokolowski is far from old at 32, and he’s one of those guys that seems to be getting better the more he fights. 2017 was a bad year for Sokolowski with him losing three fights to David Price, Martin Bakole Ilunga and Tom Little. Losing to Price and Ilunga was understandable, but not to Little. That’s a fight that Sokolowski could have won had he been fighting the way he is now.
Browne is coming into tonight’s fight with Sokolowski off of a small 2-fight winning streak in beating Junior Pati and Julius Long. Browne needs to jump on Sokolowski quickly to try and bang him out of there before he starts unloading on him with his own big power shots. A loss for Browne tonight will signal that it’s over with for him. Getting beaten recently by Dillian Whyte by a sixth round knockout last March was excusable for Browne, but not a loss to Sokolowski. It’ll be game over for ‘Big Daddy’ Browne if he gets beaten tonight. If Browne gets past Sokolowski, he’s still got a formidable opponent waiting for him in Dave Allen in the summer.
Prediction
Browne has the better pedigree of the two. He should be able to stop Sokolowski within six rounds, but there’s a very good chance that the wheels come off and he gets beaten by the younger fighter. This is a big fight for Sokolowski, and he could pull off the upset against the old lion. Never the less, this writer sees Browne winning by a sixth round stoppage.