By Johnny Walker
Fresh off his recent utter humiliation of fading American veteran James “Lights Out” Toney, Australia’s Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne had planned to take on 6′ 8″ UK giant Richard Towers this Thursday, July 27, at the Melbourne Pavilion in Australia.
However, a squeamish Australian customs had a problem with the admission of Towers — an ex-con who spent six-and-a-half years in prison for kidnapping before embarking on his professional boxing career — into their country.
With Towers momentarily out of the picture, Browne (16-0, 14 KOs) may have ended up with a bigger challenge than Towers, however, when rugged American Travis Walker stepped in at the last minute to take the fight.
The unpredictable Walker (39-10-1, 29 KOs) has some serious knockout power, and put a surprised Tomasz Adamek on the seat of his pants in a recent bout before being stopped in their September 2012 meeting.
He also stopped local heavywweight hero Kali Meehan in the sixth round of their March 2012 fight with a TKO, shocking Meehan’s home fanbase, and gave rising unbeaten heavyweight Kubat Pulev a tougher time than the scores indicated in a loss.
If Walker is any kind of decent condition on such short notice, the six-foot four-inch tall Browne could now have a real fight on his hands, rather than the easy ride he had in beating the pitiful, confused Toney or the anticipated softer touch in the inexperienced Towers.
In contrast to Walker, Towers sported a record of 14-0 over very limited opposition, and has shown some very vulnerable moments against of the division’s lesser lights, times where he has been hanging on for dear life.
The amiable Browne, meanwhile, says he is perfectly willing to travel to the UK to fight Towers, but realizes that he can’t afford to take his mind off the task at hand.
“The replacement of Travis Walker is an awesome one and the things I’ve been working on will still be able to be used against him,” said Big Daddy.
“Travis has shown he has power, but also that he comes on strong in the early rounds, so it’s up to me to stay firm with my guard and not fall into a brawl with him. I want to box him and show my skills.”
This could turn out to be one very interesting heavyweight brawl, and should tell us just where Lucas Browne stands in the heavyweight division. A victory over a tough gatekeeper like Walker would up his standing considerably.