By Edward Chaykovsky
WBA has ordered Lucas 'Big Daddy' Browne (24-0, 21KOs) and Shannon Briggs (60-6-1, 53KOs) for the vacant WBA heavyweight title.
The belt was vacated a few weeks ago by Tyson Fury, who is taking time to deal with his mental health.
The fight has to take place on or before December 31, and the winner of the contest will have 120 days to make a mandatory defense against Fres Oquendo.
Browne was initially set to face Oquendo as part of a WBA tournament to establish a single champion. Then Oquendo sent medical records to confirm that he was still recovering from shoulder surgery.
Then after Fury vacated his title, there were negotiations for Browne to face Wladimir Klitschko on December 10 in Hamburg, Germany. That fight also fell through when Klitschko suffered a minor injury in camp and pushed back his ring return to 2017.
Several fighters had submitted requests to collide for the vacant WBA belt, but the sanctioning body sided with Browne and Briggs was highest ranked available contender.
Browne won the WBA 'regular' belt when he upset Ruslan Chagaev earlier this year. The 37-year-old Browne was stripped of the title after failing a drug test, but was later exonerated in court. Because of severe issues with his vision, Chagaev dropped the title and retired from the sport.
Briggs is ranked eighth in the WBA heavyweight rankings and last fought to a knockout win over Emilio Zarate in May.