WHO WINS and WHY? Dillian Whyte v Lucas Browne

Two top ten heavyweights will be rumbling Saturday, and HBO will show the faceoff.

Dillian Whyte, the 22-1 Jamaican born Brit, is the favorite in my book,  because he’s been busier, if nothing else. Six fights, in 2016 and 2017, and that contrasts with Lucas Browne, who’d been bedeviled by promotional slows, and himself, by getting into PED jackpots.

Browne…

Do you expect Whyte to be too strong, too fast and too young for Browne? (Lawrence Lustig pic)

..is 38, and has fought TWICE in that span. Yeah, rust could be an issue…

Neither has fought a murderers row and neither will be a threat to make the Hall of Fame. Not being mean, here, just keeping it real.

One has to think this is a pre-cursor for a push by HBO to land Anthony Joshua for his next fight, after he fights Joseph Parker. Otherwise, this programming doesn’t make sense on surface. So, with that in mind, here are some quotes from the lads.

Live on HBO Saturday at 6:00 p.m. from the O2

*Same-day replay at 10:00 p.m. on HBO*

Dillian Whyte

“It means a lot to headline The O2. Topping the bills as a star is what I’ve been working for. Nothing good comes easy. Boxing is a hard sport to make a living from and it gets even harder to stay at the top when you get there. I am well aware of that, but I’m a tough man and I don’t give up easily.

“I’ve done it the hard way, built myself up and battled to get to where I am through a lot of setbacks. My rage and anger got me to a certain point in the sport and then I had the accident. I’m a realist and an analyst, I took myself away and I realized I had to become more professional and get good people around me and I made the transition, that’s what is here now and there’s still more to come, but I am getting there.

“You have to be yourself, if you are and you believe in yourself and what you say, you aren’t going to do wrong things, you just have to be honest and real, that’s all a man can do.

“He has had his ups and downs outside the ring. He’s a controversial guy both in actions and words, but all that aside, it’s a really good fight. He’s 6ft 5in, a big puncher, 23 KOs from 25 wins, so it’s dangerous but that’s the sort of fights I want, I like to get in there and have it.

“I want to KO him and he wants to KO me. I’ve learned that people can say one thing and when they get in the ring and see it’s going to be a hard night, they change the way they fight.

“I always try to be in great fights but it takes two to fight. I can’t make the fights, build the fights and fight myself – the opponent has to come to fight. If they come to box and be elusive and defensive and boring, then I have to deal with that and get the win, but if they come to fight, then I will fight too. When it heats up, that’s when you see the best of me, the hotter it gets the better.

“Lucas has been talking rubbish on social media for a long time now, not just around this fight. I only dislike the guys that take liberties and Lucas has done that and has carried on doing it all the way up to the fight. He’s a bully, he speaks bad about so many people, in and out of boxing, he’s a nasty piece of work.”

Lucas Browne

“I don’t like judges’ decisions – it’s not good for me to have my life and my career in the hands of three people outside the ring. If I KO someone – there’s no argument, that’s what I like.

“He’s got a big mouth, a lot of the things he’s said on social media are just stupid and wrong.

“It’s a cry for attention. He knows he’s not the best boxer so he has to get noticed somehow and he does it by making noise. He’s famous for getting KO’d by Anthony Joshua, that’s it. I think he’s an idiot and I don’t like him, but I’ve always wanted to fight him.

“He can box a bit and he’s got a good workrate but I don’t think he’s got a great chin, and the whole ‘Bodysnatcher’ thing just makes me want to take him out with a bodyshot.

“I am exactly who I am on camera as I am in person – I’m not sure if Dillian is one of those people that if you put a camera in front of him he turns into a d***head or if he’s a d***head full time?

“He calls me a bully, and I am. I never deliberately bullied people around but I am a sort of enforcer, I need a reason to go out and do it and he’s given me plenty of reasons to. 90 per cent of the time I am happy-go-lucky, but that other 10 per cent of me is just twisted and wrong, and I like the fact that in a boxing ring I can let that out, and he’s going to get all of that.”