Alen Babic will face Lucas Browne on Whyte-Wallin undercard

Alen Babic vs Lucas Browne has been added to Matchroom Boxing’s Oct. 30 card at London’s O2 Arena, which will feature Dillian Whyte facing Otto Wallin in the main event. It’s the third fight scheduled for this event so far, alongside the title unification between Chantelle Cameron and Mary McGee.

While Lucas Browne (29-3, 25 KO) is certainly the most noteworthy opponent that Alen Babic (8-0, 8 KO) will have faced thus far in his young career, that does not mean he will be the most difficult or even worthy challenge. Even the Lucas Browne who was starched by Dillian Whyte in 2018 might have been a solid test for Babic, but his reflexes and punch resistance have dropped off precipitously in the last several years, as he is clearly not the same fighter who defeated Ruslan Chagaev in their controversial fight in 2016 (the victory was later overturned due to a positive drug test).

Browne lost to Dave Allen in 2019, knocked out by a left hook to the body in the third round. In April of this year, he was blitzed by former rugby star Paul Gallen and stopped in the first round. It’s difficult to imagine him faring much better against “The Savage” Babic.

Babic has not been shy about his desire to face bigger names like his countryman Filip Hrgovic, and Browne definitely is a bigger name than the journeymen he’s fought in his first eight bouts. Whether Browne will be able to sustain the onslaught of someone like Babic and be the first man to take him the distance is another story.