As the excitement builds around British cruiserweight Pat Brown, the 25-year-old from Manchester seems to only grow more humble, less concerned with all the fuss being made about him. Ironically, it’s one of the characteristics that makes so many believe he has the potential to become a national, and perhaps global, phenomenon.
Even after Brown put on a dramatic display Saturday at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida, in a destruction of veteran Felix Valera – who entered the fight with 151 professional rounds, compared to his opponent’s nine – he seemed less focused on the win, the knockout or his first appearance in the US.
He just wanted to talk about his old man.
“At the resort, it's been beautiful. Couldn't have gone any better,” Brown said in the ring after his second-round knockout of Valera. “And listen, I've reached the pinnacle of boxing, me and me dad. You know, me dad’s took me to the gym since seven years of age, and we've never been on a business flight together. And we did that.
“He's been smiling all week. You know, he's been working his bollocks off – pardon me French – all his life for me and me two brothers. And I brought me dad to America, and yeah, he's loving it. He's living life. And that's everything to me. All that I do is to make that man proud, and I have done it. So, yeah, I've reached the top of the sport already to be doing that with me dad.”
If you think Brown’s wholesome, humble bearing is too good to be true, just wait until you see him in the ring. Brown not only looks the part – his muscle-slabbed 6ft 3ins frame could carry him to heavyweight one day – but can also box his tail off.
His team had hoped to get him rounds against Valera, and Brown was dutifully cool in his early approach in Saturday’s scheduled 10-rounder (another career first). But when he opened up Valera with a level-changing double hook, backed him up with a similar flurry and then rocked him with a quick jab-straight right hammer early in the second, Brown didn’t stand on ceremony. Seconds later, after three knockdowns and with Valera stretched face-first on the canvas, the US had made its concussive introduction to Brown.
“I'm happy with it. But, listen, I never go looking for it,” Brown said of the knockout performance. “That's the difference – it just comes.
“You can't just go in like a bulldozer. So I know that, and that's what I've been working on. But I know he's a tricky customer, and once we got him hurt, it goes to anyone out there: I don't let you get off the hook easy.”
Brown, now 5-0 (5 KOs), wasn’t interested in playing matchmaker after Saturday’s fight. He says he’ll leave plotting his career path to his team and promoter Matchroom Boxing. Meanwhile, Eddie Hearn called Brown “Manchester’s Rocky Marciano” and “a massive problem for every cruiserweight in the world” while at the same time seemingly trying to speak his own patience into existence.
”That's when you know you're special – come out and produce a performance like that,” Hearn said of Brown. “You guys watching, everyone that knows their boxing saw that, and they know we've got someone very special on our hands here. He's 25 – nice and slow – but the reality is, this kid is the goods, and he's absolute box office to watch, with dynamite in both hands. And I can't wait for the journey.”
Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.
