Photos: Dillian Whyte, Lucas Browne - Ready For War in London

By Keith Idec, photos by Chris Dean

Following months of trash talk, Lucas Browne and Dillian Whyte weren’t the least bit disrespectful toward each other Friday.

They simply stared at one another for a few seconds, shook hands and walked away after weighing in for their 12-round heavyweight fight Saturday night at O2 Arena in London. Luckily, their fight figures to be much more entertaining than their last meeting before they enter the ring.

The 29-year-old Whyte weighed in at 254.2 pounds, about 6½ pounds heavier than he was for his last fight. The 38-year-old Browne got on the British Boxing Board of Control’s scale at 264½ pounds, the heaviest he has been in his past six fights. 

Whyte (22-1, 16 KOs), who has lost only to unbeaten British knockout artist Anthony Joshua, will defend the WBC silver heavyweight title. The London-based, Jamaican-born boxer is ranked No. 1 by the WBC, 12 spots ahead of Browne (25-0, 22 KOs).

Promoter Eddie Hearn believes Whyte will be named the mandatory challenger for WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) if he beats Browne.

The 6-feet-4 Whyte is listed as a 4-1 favorite over the 6-feet-5 Browne.

Whyte has won six straight fights since Joshua stopped him in the seventh round of their December 2015 battle at O2 Arena. He wasn’t particularly impressive in his last bout, but still defeated Finland’s Robert Helenius (26-2, 16 KOs) convincingly on his way to earning a 12-round unanimous decision October 28 in Cardiff, Wales.

Browne has fought just once in the two years since he overcame big deficits on all three scorecards to stop Ruslan Chagaev for the WBA heavyweight championship. The WBA stripped Browne of that title because he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug following the biggest win of his career in March 2016.

The Whyte-Browne bout will headline Sky Sports’ four-bout broadcast Saturday night, which is set to start at 7 p.m. GMT. HBO will air Whyte-Browne live in the United States, starting at 6 p.m. ET.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.