Wilder: Browne might be next opponent; this is personal!

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Deontay WilderWBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder stopped by the MGM Grand media tent on Saturday prior to Shawn Porter’s unanimous decision victory over Adrien Broner in the main event.

The 6’7 Wilder is coming off a ninth-round KO of Eric Molina on June 13th, which gave the Tuscaloosa, Alabama native his 33rd knockout in 34 fights, a knockout run unheard of since former titlist Vitali Klitschko’s rise through the ranks from the late 90’s to early 2000’s.

Another undefeated heavyweight in Australian Lucas Browne (22-0, 19 KO’s), No. 6. WBC ranked contender, was not particularly impressed by Wilder’s performance.

In the third round, Wilder was wobbled a couple of times, which was initiated when Molina landed an authoritative left hook.

Browne insists that if it was he landing the left hook, Wilder would have been knocked out, speaking with World Boxing News.

“Eric Molina put up a better showing than most expected and I take my hat off to him for that, but let’s be honest, he was handpicked to make Wilder look good,” Browne said.

“If I’d have hit Wilder with a hook like that one in the third, he wouldn’t have stayed on his feet. I think he’d probably still be asleep now.

“There’s been a lot of hype around Deontay. People have said he’s the savior of heavyweight boxing, but that performance just made me sad.

“I really can’t see what everyone sees in him. Every time I watch him, I spot flaws that I could exploit. He was lucky he was in with Molina because if he was facing me, he’d have been knocked cold.”

When I brought up Lucas Browne directly to Deontay Wilder, the champion was quick to shut him down, yet opened the door to a grudge match down the road.

“Lucas Browne is just looking for an opportunity; he doesn’t believe in himself. No one that trains out of his own garage is going to beat me,” Wilder said.

“All these guys that are talking are just trying to entertain. Lucas Browne will never beat me, and I hope he climbs into the ring to get that opportunity. That’s one of the things that will be personal for me. Lucas Browne might be my next opponent.”

Browne’s manager, Matt Clark, doesn’t seem too interested in a clash with Wilder. Instead, he’s been more open to his fighter facing the winner of Chagaev-Pianeta, two guys who have already tasted defeat against Wladimir Klitschko, who holds three of the four major heavyweight title belts.

When I asked how Wilder thought Browne would fare against either of them, he couldn’t give an answer.

“I have no idea. Lucas still has a long way to go. He’s always talking about his power and this and that, but last time I checked, I got the highest [knockout] ratio in all of boxing.
“Words can only go so far until you have facts. You pull up your facts, I pull up my facts, and see the percentage of knockouts.

“Who has he [Browne] fought? Everybody wants to bring up opponents and stuff like that, but the thing about it, everybody’s a human being. You just never know.

“You can’t say you got a crackhead off the street and say you’re gonna knock him out. Because I know some crackheads right now, that’ll give you a run. I promise you.”

Browne responded on Twitter.

“[Wilder] knows he’s on borrowed time, won’t have the balls to fight me. I’ll hit him back and hit him hard. Dog c***.”

I think Browne is going to have a lot of trouble finding the target in this potential matchup. He’s not a small heavyweight; he’s a big heavyweight, so look for Wilder to fight a smart fight. In his past three fights, Browne enters the ring at an average of 264 lbs.

If Wilder uses his jab to set him up with a big right hand shots, it could be a quick night.