Lucas Browne says he still wants Dillian Whyte fight

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid:

Former WBA heavyweight champion Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne (25-0, 22 KOs) says the negotiations for a March 24th fight with Dillian Whyte (22-1, 16 KOs) is still ongoing at this time, and he still wants the fight.

Browne revealed that the rumors of him getting $1 million for the Whyte fight are false. Browne says it’s not even $300,000. The Whyte vs. Browne fight is supposed to be taking place at the O2 Arena in London, England. That means it’ll be a hometown advantage for Whyte if the fight gets made.

Browne states that his legal rep tried to contact Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn, but he’s not heard from him. As soon as Hearn contacts him back, they can continue with the negotiations. Browne assumes Hearn is on holiday right now.

“I’m addressing the issue about Dillian Whyte and the fans that are delusional that basically believe everything they read on the internet,” said Browne. ”The offer of $300,000 is wrong. It was less than that, and #2, there was never ever going to be $1 million dollars, not 1 million pounds; whatever number you want to say. It’s not a fight worth that much, I don’t think,” said Browne.

It’s not looking good right now with the negotiations. Whyte is talking about wanting the negotiations to go backwards and forwards, which likely means he not agreeable to accepting less than $300K for the fight with Whyte. WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is rumored to have been offered $4 million for a fight against Whyte.

If Browne is being offered less than $300,000, it makes you wonder if Hearn is giving him lowball offers to try and get him on the cheap. There’s risk involved for Browne in taking on a fight against Whyte in the UK. We already saw Whyte win a controversial 12 round split decision victory over Dereck Chisora last year in December. If that happens to Browne as well, he’ll lose his unbeaten record and have to hit the reset button on his career.

READ Fury says Hearn & Joshua are trying to dictate contract terms

If Browne isn’t being offered $300,000 for the Whyte fight, it makes you wonder why he’s even bothering. If the money isn’t huge, Browne doesn’t have much to gain by taking the fight.

”The negotiations are going backwards and forwards,” said Browne about the negotiations for the fight with Whyte. ”I spoke with my legal representative last night. He called Eddie. Eddie Hasn’t returned his call. I’m assuming he’s on holiday for the moment. It may take a week or so, but I’m ready to fight. I’m ready to go backwards and forwards with the negotiations,” said Browne.

So there it is. Hearn hasn’t called Browne back. Is Hearn serious about wanting to make the Whyte vs. Browne fight? Browne isn’t one of Hearn’s Matchroom Sport stable fighters. It could also be that Hearn is now playing it a lot tougher with the negotiations with various fighters than he has in the past. In that case, we could see Hearn failing to make fights for his Matchroom Sport stable fighters over and over. What a pity that would be. Hearn has all these popular fighters, but he’s not matching them up against good opposition. If Hearn can’t make deal for Whyte and Anthony Joshua in 2018, then what kind of promoter is he?

”There’s never been anywhere near $1 million, so let’s get that out straightaway,” said Browne.

Oh my, it doesn’t sound like a good deal for Browne to take the fight with Whyte. If Browne were making $1 million for the Whyte fight and fighting in Australia, then you can call it a good deal for him to take that fight. But if Browne is only going to make somewhere in the neighborhood of $200K and have to fight in London, England, that’s arguably not a great deal.

”Let’s go Dillian Whyte, Eddie Hearn. Let’s get this fight signed ASAP,” said Browne.

READ Hearn says contract sent to Lucas Browne for Whyte fight on Mar.24

Whyte recently complained on his Twitter that Browne, 38, is pricing himself out for the fight. If Browne wasn’t even offered $300,000 for the fight, then I don’t see how he’s the bad guy in this situation. If Whyte is getting the lion’s share of the loot for the Browne fight, it’s not a great deal for the unbeaten ‘Big Daddy’ to accept the fight for the money being offered to him.

“Wishing everybody a great Xmas & a happy New Year except that [expletive] Lucas Browne who after agreeing the money is now pricing himself out #Coward,” said Whyte.

Whyte is saying that Browne agreed to the money that was offered to him. It doesn’t sound like that’s the case. Browne is still trying to negotiate the fight from what he says. There appears to be a misunderstanding on Whyte’s part in thinking that Browne has already agreed to the offer that was given to him. Hearn might need to sweeten the offer considerably for Browne to agree to it.