Lucas Browne

Browne vs. Rudenko

Browne defended the WBC-EPBC title on August 1, 2014 against Andriy Rudenko (24-0) at the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton, England. Browne defeated Rudenko by a 12 round unanimous decision to win the vacant WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight title. The judges scored the fight 116–112, 115–113, and 117–112 all in favour of Browne.^[9]

Browne vs. Chagaev

On 14 November 2015, the WBA ordered Ruslan Chagaev to reach a deal to make a defence of his WBA title against Australian heavyweight contender Browne. The two sides had until 30 November to reach a deal.^[10] Chagaev's promoter Timur Dugazaev announced the fight would likely take place in Grozny in March 2016.^[11] In the January 2016, the fight was officially announced to take place on 5 March.^[12] Browne made history by becoming the first Australian to win a version of the world heavyweight championship, by stopping Chagaev in ten rounds to become WBA (Regular) heavyweight champion in Russia. Browne landed nearly 20 unanswered punches, mostly right hands, before referee Stanley Christodoulou stopped the fight at 2 minutes, 27 seconds. Browne was knocked down in the sixth round and at the time of the knockout, behind on all judges scorecards, 81–88, 82–88, and 82–88. The fight was not without controversy, with a reported 59 seconds of erroneous time during rounds 6 and 7 of the bout.^[13][14][15]

Drug issues

Browne was later stripped of the title due to a failed drug test for the banned substance clenbuterol. Browne repeatedly maintained his innocence, however testing on the second sample for the drug proved positive.^[16]

On 2 November 2016, the WBA ordered Browne to fight American heavyweight veteran Shannon Briggs for the WBA regular title. The fight was ordered to take place before the end of 2016. Browne was originally due to fight Fres Oquendo, who hadn't fought since 2014, however that fight could not be made due to Oquendo recovering from an injury. The WBA ordered the winner of this bout to fight Oquendo in a mandatory defense within 120 days.^[17][18]

Reports indicated that after 8 months of being stripped of the WBA heavyweight title due to positive A and B samples for the banned substance clenbuterol, Browne has produced another positive drug test, this time for the banned substance ostarine.^[19]

On 18 May 2017, Browne's manager, Matt Clark announced that he would be making a return to the ring on 2 June 2017 at the Club Punchbowl in Sydney.^[20] On 26 May, his opponent was announced as journeyman Mathew Greer (16-20, 13 KOs).^[21] In a scheduled six round fight, Browne dropped and stopped the over matched Greer in round 2.^[22] After the win, Browne set his sights on WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker.^[23]

Browne vs. Whyte

On 17 October 2017, it was reported that Browne would travel to Moscow, Russia to fight unbeaten 30 year old Sergei Kuzmin (11-0, 8 KOs) for the WBA Inter-Continental title on 27 November. Kuzmin, known for his amateur background where he beat the likes of Joe Joyce, Robert Cammarelle and Ivan Dychko.^[24] Browne backed out of the fight and was replaced by American boxer Amir Mansour.^[25] On 7 November, it was reported that Browne had signed a deal to challenge undefeated WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. Locations discussed were Parker's home city of Auckland or Melbourne in Australia. Browne's promoter Matt Clark stated that Browne had signed the contract and was now waiting on Parker to sign the deal. At the time, Browne was not listed in the WBO's top 15 rankings, meaning he would need to fight for a WBO regional title to get ranked.^[26] On 11 January 2018, the fight between Browne and WBC Silver heavyweight champion Dillian Whyte was finally made, to take place at the O2 Arena in London on 24 March. Whyte's WBC Silver title would be at stake.^[27][28]

Whyte hit Browne with a hard left hook to the head in the round 6 to knock him down and out unconscious, winning the fight. There was no count made and the fight was waived off immediately with ringside doctors attending to Browne before giving him oxygen. The fight was officially stopped at 0:37 of the round. Browne’s face was cut and badly swollen from the clean shots landed from Whyte. Browne left himself open most of the time and tried switching stances after a few rounds. Browne suffered a cut over his left eye in round 3, which got worse with each round. Whyte then bloodied Browne’s nose in round 5.^[29] After the fight, Browne was stretchered to a nearby hospital for precaution and Whyte called out WBC champion Deontay Wilder for a fight in June 2018. Promoter Hearn said, “I hope the WBC make Dillian mandatory now, the fight is there for Deontay Wilder in June. We have to force the shot and after that performance, he deserves the shot.” Hearn stated there could be a possibility that the WBC order a final eliminator between Whyte and Dominic Breazeale.^[30][31]

Browne returned to the ring on 28 September 2018 at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Gold Coast and knocked out 41 year old Julius Long (18-20, 14 KOs) for a second time in three years. It was a right hand to the chin which knocked Long out unconscious. After the fight, Browne called out Dave Allen and Adam Kownacki.^[32]