Marcus Browne scored the biggest win of his career and put himself one step closer to fighting for a light heavyweight world title.
Browne scored a wide unanimous decision victory over former champion Badou Jack (117-110, 116-111, 119-108) to win the interim WBA Light Heavyweight title. The fight took place as the co-main event bout to the Manny Pacquiao vs. Adrien Broner pay-per-view card.
Browne dominated the fight from the start, overpowering Jack with strong hooks to the body and to the head. The story of the bout, however, was a clash of heads in the seventh round that saw Jack suffer a horrendous cut on his forehead and immediately started to bleed. Jack's face was immediately covered in blood for the last five rounds and was limited to throwing jabs to Browne's body.
Once the fight was over and Browne was given his interim title belt, he immediately challenged WBC champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk to a fight. Although the fight between Jack and Browne was supposed to be for the interim WBA title, the WBC announced the fight would be a final eliminator, meaning Browne has the right to challenge for two different championships.
“[Jack] thought he was going to take me to deep water and drown me, but I was in shape,” Browne said. “Teddy Atlas, you think you have the best light heavyweight? (Oleksandr) Gvozdyk, let’s go.”
The 28-year-old Browne now improves his record to 23-0 with the victory over Jack. According to CompuBox, Browne landed 145 out of 515 total punches (28 percent) and Jack landed 66 of 303 punches (22 percent). Browne also outlanded Jack 103 to 58 in the power punching department.
