Whyte destroys Browne, calls out Wilder

Boxingnews24.com

By Jim Dowe

Dillian Whyte took care of business in his path to a world title shot in sending Lucas Browne down to a crushing defeat on Saturday night at the O2 Arena. Whyte landed a left hook with everything on it that flattened the 38-year-old Browne (25-1, 22 KOs).

The WBC didn’t inform Whyte and Browne that their fight was a WBC heavyweight title eliminator. As such, it’s still up in the air who WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s mandatory challenger is.

The Australian heavyweight was knocked senseless by the shot. Whyte (23-1, 17 KOs) now wants a title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs).

It’s going to be up to the WBC whether Whyte gets that shot. Wilder might be fighting Anthony Joshua later this year. There’s talk that Whyte could have to face #2 WBC Dominic Breazeale (19-1, 17 KOs) to get the title shot against Wilder.

Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn is likely to make Joshua vs. Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller next if AJ wins his fight next Saturday night against WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker in Cardiff, Wales. Hearn doesn’t seem ready to let Joshua take Wilder. Besides, Hearn appears to be holding out hope that the World Boxing Council will order Wilder to fight Whyte next. The world wants to see Joshua vs. Wilder next. Hearn doesn’t want that fight next, and he’s going to be the one to block if from happening. That means Joshua will likely fight Miller next in the summer if everything goes right for him next Saturday against Parker.

Hearn doesn’t seem to care whether Joshua faces Wilder or Whyte. He just wants the fight to be built up in a tournament fashion, but the way he’s setting it up, Wilder and Whyte are the ones that must do the heavy lifting by taking the harder fights. Joshua is coming off a win over Carlos Takam. He only must beat Parker and Jarrell Miller to get to the end of the tournament. Wilder just had to go through Luis Ortiz.

Whyte wants his title shot against Wilder right now in his next fight. “I hope Browne is all right, now where you at Wilder?””Let’s go in June. I’m ready! Forget, Joshua, he won’t be ready in time. Let’s do this next baby. Lt’s go. I proved I’m world class. I’ve been working so hard, training away and it’s paid off,” Whyte said.

Wilder turned down $4 million to face Whyte recently. He’s not going to willingly take less than that fight him now that he’s beaten an out of shape, underperforming Lucas Browne tonight. Wilder wants the title shot against Joshua now, as he believes he just proved himself in his last fight by beating what many boxing fans think is the second best heavyweight in the division in Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz by a 10h round knockout on March 3 in New York. For Wilder to have to go from fighting Ortiz to facing Whyte, it would mean two consecutive tough fights for him.

Wilder can bypass Whyte as a mandatory challenger if he faces Joshua in a unification fight. Of course, if Eddie Hearn still wants no part of making the Joshua-Wilder fight, then that’s different. Wilder might have to face Whyte in that case if the WBC orders it.

Whyte did not look worried at all tonight in taking apart Browne. He was hitting the 38-year-old Browne a will with jabs, left hooks and right hands and enjoying himself. Browne didn’t have the physical tools to make this a good fight. He had the power, but his size, speed and his conditioning was lacking. Browne came into the fight too heavy. It looks like Browne misjudged how much size he needed for the fight. He might have thought that he would be better off if he went up to 264, but that turned out to be a mistake on his part.

”I need the challenge and when it is there, I rise. I can crack,” Whyte said. The O2 is my home; I’m going to knock all these guys out, one by one. I just knocked out a world champion in six rounds. That shows where I am at. Wilder’s next fight is me. If he fights anyone else I will go the USA and kick off.”

The blood from a cut that Browne sustained in the 3rd round would prove to be a problem for him tonight, as it made it difficult for him to track the incoming shots from the hard-hitting Whyte.

Initially, Whyte was hesitant to go on the attack of Browne, because he was afraid of getting hit with one of his hard counters. But by the 5th round, Whyte sensed that Browne had no ability to hit him back when he would open with his combinations. Going into the 6th, it was clear that Whyte no longer had any respect for Browne’s punches. He knew that he couldn’t land anything and that he wouldn’t even try to land a shot when he would hit him with anything.

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