By Keith Idec

Ricky Hatton understands just how tough of an assignment Lucas Browne has accepted for Saturday night.

Hatton, whose company promotes Browne, considers Browne’s bout with Dillian Whyte a “50-50” proposition. The retired British legend also knows his fighter possesses pulverizing power that can change any fight.

“If you want my personal opinion, I think it’s a 50-50 fight,” Hatton said during a final press conference Thursday at O2 Arena in London, the site of the Whyte-Browne fight. “I think it’s anyone’s fight. I think it’s a great style matchup. You know, Lucas is a murderous puncher. You know, Dillian’s been active a lot recently, where Lucas hasn’t been active.

“But Lucas has made up for it with the training camp that he’s had here. So we’re looking confident. Hopefully, Lucas can do it on the night. But it’s a 50-50 fight, and it can’t fail to be a good one.”

The 38-year-old Browne (25-0, 22 KOs) has fought just once in the two years since he came back to stop Ruslan Chagaev in the 10th round to win the WBA heavyweight title. Browne was stripped of that championship once he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug following that victory over Uzbekistan’s Chagaev in March 2016.

The 29-year-old Whyte (22-1, 16 KOs) has fought six times since Browne beat Chagaev. Most recently, Whyte went the distance with onetime contender Robert Helenius (26-2, 16 KOs), who was reluctant to engage with Whyte and lost a 12-round unanimous decision to him October 28 in Cardiff, Wales.

“It’s a great heavyweight matchup,” Hatton said. “The boys have already proven themselves. Dillian has been in so many great matches. He’s already the No. 1 [contender] in the WBC. And obviously Lucas is former world heavyweight champion. So they’ve already made their own names, and rightly so.”

Hatton, a former two-division champion, also noted that it’s important for Browne to not just look for one shot to knock out Whyte.

“[His power] could be the difference, but like we spoke on it with Rodney [Williams], his trainer … the first thing you’re told when you walk into the gym is you don’t look for the big punch, because you’ll never get it in,” Hatton said. “You know what I mean? And the punches that do get you are the punches you don’t see. So that’s what Lucas and Rodney have been working on in training camp, and I think that’s what they’re gonna need.

“It’s not simply the case of landing one punch. There are certain things you’ve gotta do to get that punch in. So I think the boys have been working on it in the gym, and hopefully he can get it in.”

Sky Sports will air Whyte-Browne in the United Kingdom as the main event of a four-fight broadcast Saturday night (7 p.m. GMT). HBO will televise Whyte-Browne live in the United States (6 p.m. ET).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.