Derrick James, the new head trainer of light heavyweight contender Marcus Browne, is confident that his boxer will shock the entire weight class by knocking off heavily favored world champion Artur Beterbiev.
The Russian-born puncher who moved to Montreal nearly a decade ago to begin his professional career, will finally get the chance to defend his titles in his adopted hometown.
Beterbiev (16-0, 16 KOs), boxing’s only world champion with a 100 percent knockout rate, will defend his WBC and IBF light heavyweight titles against Browne, a 2012 U.S. Olympian, this Friday at Bell Centre in Montreal.
Browne (24-1, 16 KOs), who once held an interim world title, returned to the ring in April with a 10-round decision over Denis Grachev.
Beterbiev, who is upwards of an 11-1 betting favorite. He unified world titles in October 2019 with a 10th-round TKO over Oleksandr Gvozdyk and returned to action in March with a 10th-round stoppage over Adam Deines.
James, who already trains unified world champions Jermell Charlo and Errol Spence, believes he will add another to his stable on this weekend.
“We’re very happy to be here. I found out when we got here that Marcus was a huge underdog, and we embrace that. This will be a historic fight. After Marcus wins the title, it will make me the only trainer in history to have three unified champions at the same time: Marcus Browne, Jermell Charlo, and Errol Spence,” James said.
“I know who I am. I know Marcus will do what I ask him to do. When he came to me, he was already a good fighter and I just helped him build on that. I believe in myself, and I believe in Marcus.”