Lucas Browne vs Dillian Whyte Preview March 24th
Unbeaten former WBA Heavyweight Champion Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne of Australia will be taking on Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte of Jamaica at the O2 Arena in London, England this Saturday, March 24th. The 12-round bout for Whyte’s WBC Silver Heavyweight Title can be seen live in Britain on Sky Sports. Whyte’s last outing was 12-round unanimous decision win over Robert Helenius for the vacant Silver Title. Browne last fought in June when he stopped Matthew Greer in the second round. That was Browne’s first fight in 15 months as he was suspended due to a failed drug test. Also, Whyte failed a test back in 2013.
Browne vs Whyte Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Lucas Browne +295
- Dillian Whyte -360
My Pick
Browne is now 38 years old and he stopped Ruslan Chagaev for the regular WBA Heavyweight Title back in March of 2016 after recovering from a sixth-round knockdown. He steps into the ring with a perfect record of 25-0 and has 20 big Kos to his name. He turned pro back in 2009 and has 117 rounds under his belt since then. Browne’s one of the bigger heavyweights around as he stands 6-feet-5-inches tall, has a 77-inch reach meaning he’s an inch taller than Whyte, but has a negligible one-inch reach disadvantage. He may not have the strongest chin in the division though as he’s been down more than once.
What Browne does possess is a lot of power in his hands. This is evident by his current knockout ratio of a very impressive 88 per cent and he’s stopped 12 of his past 14 opponents since 2012. Browne has decent experience with wins over the likes of Chagaev, Chauncy Welliver, Julius Long, Eric Martel, Andriy Rudenko, Clarence Tillman, Travis Walker, Jason Gavern and James Toney. But he hasn’t really faced the cream of the crop in the division. Since turning pro, Browne has won the Universal Boxing Council Intercontinental Heavyweight Title as well as the WBF Asia Pacific, Australian, WBF World, Commonwealth Boxing Council, WBC Eurasia Pacific Boxing Council, and WBA Inter-Continental Titles.
The 29-year-old Whyte fights out of England and is a former kickboxer as well as British and WBC International Heavyweight Champion. He enters the ring at 22-1 with 16 Kos. He’s got quite a bit of power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 70 per cent. Whyte stands 6-feet-4-four inches tall and has a 78-inch reach. He’s boxed 104 rounds since turning pro in 2011. Whyte’s biggest wins were a third-round TKO over Brian Minto in September of 2015 and a 12-round split decision over Dereck Chisora in December of 2016.
His lone loss came to current IBF, IBO and WBA Heavyweight Champion Anthony Joshua by seventh-round stoppage in December, 2015 before Joshua won his belts. Whyte also fought Joshua as an amateur in 2009 and dropped him along the way to a decision win. Whyte, a former kickboxer and mixed-martial artist, has decent boxing skills, but usually relies on his power to carry him through. He’s got good size for a heavyweight and has a pretty solid chin despite his loss to Joshua. Whyte’s also beaten the likes of Ian Lewison, David Allen and Marcelo Luiz Nascimento. Whyte has also won the WBC International, WBC International Silver and British Heavyweight Titles in the past.
Prediction…
Both men definitely have the power to stop each other and will be looking to land something hard and heavy before their opponent does, especially since they don’t like each other. If either of them causes damage they should just keep on throwing punches and try for a stoppage. This bout will likely come down to power and chins and could end up being a bit of a slugfest as it’s a well-matched bout between two equally competitive opponents. Anything can happen here, but since Whyte is nine years younger, has been more active and is basically fighting at home, I’ll give him the edge.
Whyte’s age and home ring advantage could be the difference.
Play: Whyte -360 @ BetOnline.ag
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Dillian Whyte betting • Lucas Browne betting