A Closer Look at Former WBA Heavyweight Champion Lucas Browne

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By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

A former world heavyweight title holder and alleged drugs cheat, Lucas Browne, 29-2, 25 KO’s, is a curious mixture of an enigma wrapped in a puzzle. I cannot get past the fact that I like the man. Occasionally I watch his online videos as he shows off his training regime, he talks of the politics of boxing and he tries to get himself some fights and really enjoy his personality.

He is, his own man and often his own PR. And yet there are obvious flaws.

He has lost twice. A knockout against Dillian Whyte in 2018 at the 02 Arena that was as jaw droppingly sweet as gut wrenchingly awful. Then a loss to Dave Allen, in 2019 at the same venue, a boxer who will admit that his personality has outweighed his ability throughout his career. At best Allen is a domestic UK level heavyweight but Browne was knocked out by him.

On the way to that fight with Allen He also “won” a tune up fight in Scotland’s Trump Turnberry against Kamil Sokolowski where he got dropped and that by all account he lost and looked woeful in. As the main event though he seems to have been enough of a draw that it was a given he would take a win into his fight with Allen.

The pinnacle of his career must be his world title win which was 4 years ago when he went to Grozny and beat Ruslan Chagaev for the WBA regular title. Afterwards he tested positive for a banned substance – clenbuterol – that saw him stripped of the title before being cleared. He made no defenses of that title as he got banned, though he was due to fight Shannon Briggs when his ban was enforced. He then tested positive a second time for taking a supplement that he did not vet properly and got banned again thus making him in some eyes a serial cheat. To me he appeared either very unlucky or just less than switched on.

But he does not have a massive entourage who are there to advise and guide him and at 41, why should he? He has been in the MMA, kickboxing, professional rugby league and worked doors in Australia and is now a professional boxer – is there not enough street wise savvy within him to keep him away from the bad stuff?

The good stuff comes in the form of his titles as Australian, Commonwealth, WBA intercontinental title, WBC Eurasian Pacific, WBC Asian, WBF world and WBA champion. All have been gathered since he turned professional at the tender age of 30! He has beaten the likes of James Toney in 2013 for the WBF title, Travis Walker, and Andriy Rudenko in 2104 for the WBA intercontinental belt. It’s an impressive list but then you look at the losses…

Can he at 41 years of age manage to get back into contention for some kind of world title shot?

Is the WBA regular title the one he should target because there is little likelihood of him managing to muscle his way into the Wilder/Fury/Joshua axis?

Manual Charr won it way back in November 2017 and has not defended it since then – is it still “a thing”?

The news over the last few weeks that Browne has signed to fight the Russian Apti Davtaev may tell us a lot. Coming back from the defeats to Whyte and Allen has been up against lesser opponents that have not really tested Browne but this unbeaten heavyweight shall. An impressive performance against Davtaev shall give us much to ponder but Davtaev, trained by the same team as is now behind Tyson Fury is likely to prove more than a handful;. There are plenty who think Davtaev might be on the outside of the elite who could fight his way into that Wilder/Fury/Joshua mix.

It’s a tough fight and one for which I fear for Browne. He ain’t no spring chicken and the Russian is a fearsome fighter. Sugarhill Steward is likely to have Davtaev at his very best and this is not a fight that should be taken lightly. Browne has shaken things up with a new regime and trainer just as he did before, but it could be the last gasp saloon for him – given our current state of affairs this could get headlines in July whilst fights still to be made will be behind that curve…

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