Lucas Browne: A Closer Look at his Bid at a Cough – Cough WBA (Regular) Heavyweight Belt

By Tareq “Philosopher” Almashini

The last time a guy who went by “Big Daddy” was in a world class boxing match, he was being blasted in the nether regions by former contender Andrew Golota in a match he was unequivocally losing, albeit with a fight!

Although history tends to repeat itself, and as boxing historical artifact Larry Merchant once put it “the theater of the unexpected”. It’s not Riddick “Big Daddy” Bowe that will be fighting for the World Boxing Association “regular” title, whatever the hell that is, on March 15, 2016 and it’ll probably be very unlikely that it ends with horrific low blows.

It is boxing though, and who knows how it will end, that’s what makes this sport so intriguing, anything can happen in a fight.

It’s Lucas Browne, and he’ll be potentially the first Aussie to win the world’s heavyweight title since they first started recording who the champion is when it all started in the late 1800s with the first man to hold it John L Sullivan.

Eh, Not quite though.

Pretty soon, at the Ringside Report I’ll become better known as Tareq “the rain on your parade” Almashini, rather than the “Philosopher”, but I’m cool with it.

I like Lucas Browne, a hulking, menacingly powerful figure, draped with what looks like tribal tattoos but whose soft spoken and polite demeanor is a stark contrast not to mention that he still lives with his mum, I mean, how can someone not root for him? He’s a great exemplification of humility. I would love to see Lucas Browne eventually get a crack at the true heavyweight title and be able to make history the old fashioned way but I’ll always be a staunch supporter of the truth. The WBA regular title is just a trinket they invented for their own sanctioning fee motivated reasons and aside from establishing a contender, it really doesn’t have historical implications. I don’t know why any fighter would want to claim a hollow victory winning the regular title and then calling yourself the world heavyweight champion, much in the same breath As Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, or Larry Holmes. It is the equivalent of me beating hilarious internet troll Charlie Zelenoff for the belt he carries around.

Ok, nowhere near that illegitimate but I think you can catch my drift.

Lucas Browne is almost there, he’s at the Aussie eleventh hour, at the brink, he’s knocking on the door of destiny and first he has to go through the gate keeper, Reining regular title belt holder and long time proverbial contender, Ruslan Chagaev.

Lucas has beaten the who’s who of journeymen along the way such as Julius Long and Chauncy Welliver and even picked up a decision over faded living legend James Toney and all that is wonderful for a former mix martial artist getting a late start in boxing, and to be able to climb to the heights of which he has is amazing, inspirational and on the brink of history making.

He has just as much of a right to fight for a real title as do Vyacheslav Glazkov and Charles Martin, who fight for the vacant International Boxing Federation Belt stripped from the newly crowned Lineal champion Tyson Fury who lifted the crown off of long reigning dominant champion Wladimir Klitschko this past November, on the undercard of the more prominent title contest between World Boxing Council belt ruler Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder and top contender Artur “The Pin” Szpilka. Those two will be battling over All time great Vitali Klitschko’s belt on January 16th.

What Browne has done thus far, is a stunning feat of what a man’s will can accomplish but let’s define the title for what it actually is. It’s a chance to be the number one contender and no matter what does happen, or who wins, I would hope the WBA then forces the holder of its true title to defend against said winner. They cannot continue to allow a fighter to hold their bogus belt and then defend it a million times, creating some weird alternate reality and honestly taking a crap on the sport and its history and all those who have tempted fate to both acquire that title and defend it.

Not if the WBA wants to be taken seriously because they aren’t entitled to be recognized by the public at all. I could just act like they don’t exist, it’s that easy and at least to me, there is no WBA title.

It’s the Aussie’s eleventh hour, but more like ten thirty, first he’s got to face the dangerous man from Uzbekistan they call “The White Tyson”.

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