I’m an ex-heavyweight champion who fought Dillian Whyte, now I’m gunning for gold in bare-knuckle boxing at 46 years old

Lucas Browne makes his bare-knuckle boxing debut on Saturday night, but the Sydney slugger is no stranger to scrapping without gloves.

Before embarking on a fruitful professional boxing career that saw him become the first, and to date only, Australian world heavyweight champion, Browne worked as a bouncer, where bare-fist brawls are an occupational hazard.

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“Security was perfect on the job training,” Browne told talkSPORT.com ahead of his maiden bout in BKB.

“I’ve had plenty of bare-knuckle fights. So it will take me back in that sense, but it will also take me back to when I first started boxing, where I didn’t want to be hit.

“I got into a habit in boxing where I thought I would be alright, and I just stuck my gloves up and took the shots.

“But you can’t do that in bare-knuckle. It is back to staying out and moving.

“I’m really excited. I have got the bit between my teeth and I’m hoping to roll back the years.”

Now 46 years old, Browne is the first to admit that his best days are behind him.

But if there are any remnants left of the man who blasted away Ruslan Chagaev nine years ago for the WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title, then BKB fans are in for a treat.

Browne travelled to the Russian Republic of Chechnya as a sizeable underdog.

The tatted Aussie hadn’t laced up a pair of gloves until the age of 30, while the precocious Chagaev had scooped two World Amateur Boxing Championships by the time he was 22 years old.

Chagaev’s pedigree was on full display early doors as he craftily outboxed Browne before decking the challenger in the sixth stanza.

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By the end of the ninth round, Browne was trailing on the scorecards by margins of 88-81 and 88-82 (twice).

Ringside reporters were already writing ‘Big Daddy’s’ boxing obituary as he climbed off his stool for the tenth frame.

But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Browne detonated a dynamite right hand that sent his adversary tumbling to the canvas.

Chagaev made his way back to his feet, although he did so on unsteady legs.

Sensing his moment, Browne poured on the pressure like a man possessed, leaving referee Stanley Christodoulou with no choice but to step in and wave off the fight as Chagaev crashed against the ropes.

It’s a moment Browne remembers vividly as if it were only yesterday.

“I came in there knowing that I was never going to win on points, after all, the president was putting on the show,” recalled Browne.

“He caught me with a nice little right to the body, which I watched, and then he came over the top and knocked me down with a left.

“So I thought, ‘Alright, that’s never happening again’. The right hand I got him with came after I ducked under that exact shot, so he wasn’t expecting that follow-up.

“That was the luck of the draw, basically. It was the best shot I ever landed.

“After that, I jumped on him and I was throwing the dumbest punches, but they were landing, so it’s all good…

“The thing I take away from that fight is that he fought [Wladimir] Klitschko and [Alexander] Povetkin, and lost, but he never got knocked out. I’m the only one to ever do it.”

Euphoria quickly turned to despair when Browne was stripped of his WBA title for failing a pre-fight drug test for the banned substance clenbuterol.

He was later cleared of all wrongdoing after being found to have unintentionally ingested the weight-loss drug.

However, a second failed test in the space of eight months prevented him from getting the opportunity to regain his belt against Shannon Briggs.

Browne still kicks himself over what he describes as “a stupid mistake”, but the rugged veteran is hoping to put the past behind him by becoming a heavyweight champion once again under the BKB promotional banner.

“The ultimate goal in bare-knuckle is to become world champion,” added Browne.

“As far as I understand, BKB doesn’t have a massive heavyweight presence, so I could rise quite quickly.

“My career path in terms of going for world titles in boxing is over.

“I’m 46 years old, I understand that there isn’t a big time frame left.

“But you never know, I could become a two-time world champion in bare-knuckle.”

How to watch Lucas Browne’s bare-knuckle boxing debut

Browne returns to British shores for an eighth assignment this weekend after high-profile dust-ups with Dillian Whyte and Dave Allen.

His adversary this time around is six-fight bare-knuckle veteran Corey Harrison, who has taken the fight on short notice at Bristol’s Planet Ice Arena.

To watch Browne’s bare-knuckle boxing debut, head over to the talkSPORT Boxing YouTube channel to catch the full BKB 45 card live from 6pm.