Pat Brown is living the dream ahead of his professional boxing debut.
Brown will headline in his home city of Manchester, UK, at Planet Ice Altrincham on March 28 – something that is virtually unheard of in the professional game. The 25-year-old was the hottest amateur prospect coming out of Team GB after the Paris Olympics and it was Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing who secured the young star’s signature.
“I’m so excited, I’m headlining on my pro debut,” Brown told BoxingScene. “Only fighters can dream of that and I’m living the dream, so I’m really fortunate and I’m blessed to be in the position I am – I can’t wait.
“[Matchroom] have really got behind me and that’s all a fighter can ask for, so there’s no excuse for me now getting to the top of the game. I’ve got age on my side and I’ve got the foundation to climb the ranks and stuff so all I can do is just focus on my training and make sure I’m 110 per cent ready.”
Brown will compete at cruiserweight and be trained by Jamie Moore and his old amateur coach Nigel Travis in Manchester, just a few short miles from his home. Moore and Travis are no strangers to developing top class talent after overseeing the development of Jack Catterall and others. Brown will join a growing stable of fighters that also includes Cameron Vuong, Dave Allen and Conner Tudsbury.
“It’s a true blessing in disguise, I’m in Manchester, my home city,” said Brown. “Certain fighters have to travel to go to training camps so I’m just really fortunate that I can just drive down the road and I’m here. Obviously, I’ve known Nigel [Travis] from the amateurs so I’ve got a very fond relationship with him and I’ve known Jamie [Moore] for years also, so it’s a really close-knit unit. It’s just perfect, everything’s aligned great, so I couldn’t ask for anything more.
“You look at the likes of Jack Catterall, Carl Frampton who used to be at the gym, Chantelle Cameron, [who had the] massive Katie Taylor fights, 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.
“Yeah, it’s great to train shoulder to shoulder with Jack [Catterall],” he continued. “A lot of people ask me this question, they go, ‘What’s it like training with him?’ Do you know what, Jack is so down to earth, he’s a family man and his morals are just – he’s just a lovely, lovely person, and I don’t see him as this massive fighter. He’s just my mate and we really get on, we push each other and I’m really lucky to have him by my side.”
Brown was part of the Great Britain Olympic Team for the Paris 2024 Games. Brown was seen as one of the hopefuls for a medal but was beaten in the first round by Brazil’s Keno Machado. Brown, however, has no regrets.
“No, as an amateur I achieved everything I set out to achieve,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to go to the Olympics to be fair, I was just happy enough to be on the GB squad, experience different foreign styles and earn me stripes before I turned over. So the Olympics was just massive, it was just me gaining more experience and obviously elevating me up into the ranks coming into the pro game so yeah, I took the amateurs with every stride and I’ve got no regrets.
“I’m a slow starter and the pro game is definitely better suited for me, obviously there’s a lot for me to learn, the heat of the lights, the massive occasion, all this is obviously pressure but if you want to make it big in boxing, the pressure is only going to get bigger and bigger so it’s part and parcel of the game and yeah, I can’t wait to get in there and showcase my skills.”
Brown was always well-supported in his amateur days, regularly bringing hundreds of fans to his bouts up and down the country. Since his success on Team GB and qualifying for the Olympics his support has grown further with hundreds attending an evening just to announce his signing with Hearn and Matchroom. A big crowd is expected when he headlines in Manchester on March 28.
“Yeah, I thrive off the crowd coming to watch me,” said Brown “When I was boxing for GB and boxing internationally I obviously lost that so I was boxing in the back end of nowhere, quiet and stuff. Listen, boxing is boxing, I can do it like that and I also can do it when I’ve got a big crowd. So the crowd if anything, they just put more fumes on the fire. And, yeah, it’s great – that’s what I live for.”
British fighters have had great success in the cruiserweight division over the years with the likes of Glenn McCrory, Carl Thompson, Johnny Nelson, David Haye and Tony Bellew all lifting world championships and, more recently, Lawrence Okolie and Chris Billam-Smith both held the WBO title. Brown is hoping to join the list.
“One hundred per cent, [I want to win a world title],” he said. “The cruiserweight division it’s always been, sort of like, looked over because of the heavyweights whereas now it’s really a thriving division, you get the speed and the power mixed and it’s just a great division and I can’t wait to put my name with them great fighters. That’ll be brilliant.
“You’ve got to say like [Jai] Opetaia, he’s No. 1,” he continued. “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 and stuff like that. These are quality cruiserweights and they’re not massive in the world of boxing. Like proper boxing fans – 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.”
