By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – If Canelo Alvarez eventually fights at light heavyweight, Marcus Browne doesn’t expect to appear on the Mexican superstar’s list of potential opponents.
“Canelo don’t want this smoke, not this smoke,” Browne said following an open workout Wednesday at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn.
Alvarez was willing recently to move up from middleweight to light heavyweight for his next fight for a shot at Sergey Kovalev’s WBO 175-pound championship. Negotiations didn’t result in a deal, though, and Alvarez’s handlers are attempting to finalize a deal for Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) to take part in a unification with WBO champion Demetrius Andrade.
When asked why Alvarez wanted to fight Kovalev, Browne said, “Because he sees the chinks in his armor. He sees the chinks in his armor. … He’s a fighter. He sees some things that Andre Ward exposed.”
Ward scored an eighth-round, technical-knockout victory over Kovalev in their rematch in June 2017. The 36-year-old Kovalev since has been knocked out by Eleider Alvarez, whom Kovalev out-pointed in their 12-round rematch February 2.
Coincidentally, Colombia’s Alvarez (24-1, 12 KOs) received a chance to fight for Kovalev’s WBO light heavyweight title last August 4 when a Kovalev-Browne bout fell apart because Browne’s first two domestic violence-related arrests became public knowledge. Browne would still like to face Kovalev.
“Anybody in my weight division is on my radar,” Browne said, “[anybody] with a belt.”
The 28-year-old Browne doesn’t expect Kovalev (33-3-1, 28 KOs) to have much difficulty when he makes a mandatory title defense against England’s Anthony Yarde (18-0, 17 KOs) on August 24 in Chelyabinsk, Russia, Kovalev’s hometown.
“I don’t think it’s gonna be that hard for Sergey,” Browne said. “Yarde ain’t fight nobody like him – period. That’s none of my business, though.”
Staten Island’s Browne (23-0, 16 KOs) is focused on defending his WBA interim light heavyweight title against former WBC champ Jean Pascal (33-6-1, 20 KOs, 1 NC) on Saturday night in Brooklyn. Browne-Pascal will be one of three fights FOX will televise from Barclays Center (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.