Pat Brown wants to add his name to the star-studded list of cruiserweight champions to have come out of the United Kingdom.

As a highly regarded amateur he was the hottest prospect to emerge from Team GB at Paris 2024. He struggled to secure a medal at the Olympic Games but still had promotional companies vying for his signature. Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom eventually signed him, and he will make his professional debut on Friday at Planet Ice in Altrincham, near his home city of Manchester, England, against Federico Javier Grandone, 33 years old and of Argentina.

Brown makes his debut in the cruiserweight division, where in the past Britain has had some fine fighters. Tony Bellew, Johnny Nelson, and David Haye have all lifted world honours at 200lbs, as have, more recently, Lawrence Okolie and Chris Billam-Smith. Brown, naturally, is looking to add his name to that decorated list of fighters.

“The cruiserweight division – it's always been sort of like, looked over, because of the heavyweights, whereas now it's really a thriving division,” the 25 year old told BoxingScene. “You get the speed and the power mixed and it's just a great division and I can't wait to put my name within them great fighters, that'll be brilliant.”

It is too early in Brown’s professional career to start thinking about taking on one of the experienced operators at world level, but he is ready to move as quickly towards a title shot as his team wants him to.

“To be honest, they've not said how fast they want to move me,” he said. “But they've just said that as long as I turn up and I'm 110 per cent, that they'll get behind me and they'll get me to where I need to be, as long as I deliver the job – which it certainly will.”

Brown will be guided by one of the UK’s top training teams in Jamie Moore and Nigel Travis. He lives just a few miles from Moore’s gym in Manchester, and believes he has the right coach to take him to the top of the game.

“You look at the likes of Jack Catterall, Carl Frampton – who used to be at the gym – Chantelle Cameron, massive Katie Taylor fight,” Brown said. “So they've been there; they've worn the t-shirt; they know what to expect at the biggest stage, so I'm in capable hands for sure.”

And for how Brown rates the existing leading cruiserweights?

“You've got to say like [Jai] Opetaia, he's up there; he's number one,” he said. “He's a great fighter; he's brought that amateur pedigree in as well; he's got dynamite hands; he's the man everyone wants at the moment.

“And then you've got like even the old timers, Briedis [Prescott], and stuff like that, these are quality cruiserweights and they're not massive in the world of boxing, like proper boxing fans [know them] but your general boxing fans, they don't really know these fighters, and these are great, great fighters. So yeah, it's filled with talent in the cruiserweight division.”