PROSPECT WATCH: PAT BROWN
Gym-mate Dave Allen believes Brown’s left hook is the hardest punch he’s ever taken. The resurgent British boxing folk hero has sparred most heavyweights worth talking about over the past decade. “He was always a puncher, but with the hand-wrapping as it is in the pros, as opposed to the amateurs, and the gloves[, it has] made such a huge difference,” Moore explains. “He wore 12-ounce gloves in the amateurs and wears 10-ounce now. But the actual fabrics are different. A lot of the pro ones are horsehair, not foam padding. Even just to touch them, they’re rock- solid. So, you put one of those tools on Pat Brown’s hand … Jesus, my physio’s earned a fortune over the past eight months on my shoulders and elbows through the wear and tear of taking him and Dave Allen put together.” It’s reasonable to expect any big man who has boxed at the level Brown has to be able to bang. But even before he boasted such a strapping frame, “Bomber” was explosive.
“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always had a dig on me,” he says. “Even when I was a skinny, lean, little boy, I used to have the crack and the whip. I think it’s just genetics, and I’ve always punched with bad intentions anyway. That’s the way I’ve been trained. “In the moment, once I smell blood and smell that they’re hurt, I don’t think anything other than ‘I’m coming to get you.’ After, I’ll look at it, and it’s, ‘Wow, I wasn’t expecting that,’ as if I’ve done that, and I start pinching myself a little bit. It’s quite bad, really. When I get in the ring, I just turn into something else. I always have done. “I never remember in the moment what I’ve actually done; it’s always afterwards. I don’t even believe myself that I’m doing it. I would say that’s the way I’m wired. When I smell it and I’m going in for the kill, I’m all for it. I’m immersed in it all.” This detached viciousness was there for all to see in the manner his two most recent opponents – Austine Nnamdi and Valera, each selected by
Moore and co-manager Sam Jones to give Brown rounds – were dispatched inside two. People in the game are noticing, even if that reveals itself in unhelpful ways. Richard Riakporhe, Isaac Chamberlain and Peter Fury- trained heavyweight Matty Harris gave Brown quality work in the Valera camp, but Moore has noticed a pattern of other sparring partners pulling out on short notice. A consequence of this was Brown and Allen being allowed to spar once again, a year after a now-infamous gym war forced Moore to read the riot act. “It was a two-round ding-dong and Jamie had to pull the plug,” Brown recalls. “It really did get messy; it was just a brawl. You can’t be doing that all the time.” It left Moore playing the unfamiliar role of disciplinarian school principal. “The first round went OK, but just
Lewis Oakford succumbed to a first- round knockout in March.
towards the end they started going at each other. And I said, ‘I’m telling you, lads, if you go back out like that again now, it’s done.’ Thirty seconds in, they’re absolutely knocking the shit out of each other. There’s me, 5-foot- 9, telling two lumps like that to get the fuck out. I said, ‘I’m not doing this. You’re teammates. It’s not good for either of you. I’m not having it.’” Despite protestations from both men, the former European junior middleweight champion stood firm until there was another late withdrawal for a Brown sparring session. Allen was preparing for his shot at hulking Russian Arslanbek Makhmudov. The trainer relented, and his two charges – two firm friends – produced quality work. “In the gym, me and Dave have a laugh, but we help each other out and we push each other,” Brown says. “Dave, as everyone knows, is a very particular person. He’s not cut from the same cloth as most people. He can be very odd, and I’m sort of similar
in ways.
period, the heavyweight division is not the land of the giants that it used to be. But if Brown managed to take out the British cruiserweight title by next summer before tackling an international title fight in September 2026, and seeing how the land lays in the upper reaches of the 200-pound division 12 months from now, his timing could be perfect. Once he joins the heavyweight ranks, expect talk of an all-British superfight with Moses Itauma to emerge. There are sparring stories there, too, from Brown and Itauma’s time together in the GB amateur setup, albeit with everyone on their best behavior. “God, what a fight that would be further down the line,” says Moore. “It’s early days and sometimes people start talking about jumping the gun, and I get that. But for me, that’d be the dream fight: Pat against someone like Itauma at Old Trafford.” If that comes to pass, you won’t be able to move for Hearn wheeling out DeCubas’ “Manchester Rocky Marciano” line.
We’re kind of on the same wavelength. It’s good training alongside him, but it’s not always laughs and jokes. We know it’s the hurt business. We know it’s a serious game.” Brown thriving in these conditions to make unblemished progress as a professional is just as well, because the clock is ticking on his time as a cruiserweight. Moore does not want to deplete a big puncher as he enters his prime years. As soon as it feels like that is the case, the heavyweight division will be calling. “In 18 months’ time, he’s going to be in the position where we’re looking at moving up,” says Brown’s coach. “And, if everything goes to plan the way we expect it to, he’s probably fighting for a [cruiserweight] world title about that time. If he does get a shot at a world title and wins it, he’d probably move straight up.” Boxing has a habit of making a mockery of such precise plans. Sitting as we are in Oleksandr Usyk’s imperial
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