Pat Brown vs John Hedges

This is a cracking bit of domestic matchmaking because one has done the professional rounds and the other looks like he has dynamite in both gloves. Pat Brown meets English champion John Hedges for the vacant British and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles at Manchester’s Co-op Live on 19 September. Brown will have the home crowd, but this is no testimonial. Hedges is unbeaten, awkward and experienced enough to make the favourite earn every inch.

Brown is 6-0 with six stoppages. He represented Britain at the Paris Olympics and has been pushed quickly because his style is made for the professional game: high pressure, spiteful body punches and heavy short shots once he gets his feet underneath him. He has already stopped Felix Valera in two rounds and broke down the tough Vasil Ducar in eight. That tells me he is a world-class puncher.

Hedges is 12-0 with only three stoppages, but don’t mistake a lack of knockouts for a lack of ability. He is a 6ft 5in southpaw with long arms, decent feet and the discipline to keep a fight dull when dull suits him. He has gone the championship distance against Nathan Quarless and Ellis Zorro, and that experience matters. Brown has never heard the final bell beyond eight rounds.

Hedges must keep his right foot outside Brown’s lead foot, stab the jab into his chest and turn him before Brown can plant himself. His weakness is that he can retreat too upright and in straight lines. Against a puncher like Brown, that is asking to get clipped on the whiskers.

Brown cannot charge in like a bull after a red rag. He needs to jab his way close, attack the long body and keep his head off the centre when Hedges throws the southpaw left. Once he gets Hedges near the ropes, the left hook downstairs and right uppercut will do the business.

Hedges will make the first few rounds fiddly, but Brown’s pressure and heavier hands will gradually squeeze the life out of him. 

I’m taking Pat Brown by stoppage in the second half of the fight.