BROWNING UNBEATEN

 It is billed the Battle of the Undefeated and to the winner goes the WBC Cruiserweight crown. It will be Williamsburg’s Warren Browning (12-0-1, 8 KOs) going against Ryan Coyne (14-0, 4 KOs) Saturday (August 7) at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. It’s the third fight on Don King’s fight card and televised on HBO’s Fighting After Dark.

Browning has been a heavyweight boxer for the last four years, but will be going down in weight for the cruiserweight title. “I’ve been blessed to have a 12-0 record with eight knockouts,” said Browning. “I’ve been taking this step by step.”

“I had been fighting heavyweight, but we got a chance to fight big cruiserweight championship fight on Don King promotion,” he said. “I started training real hard and got real dedicated and I made the weight. They called me up and ask if I wanted to take it.”

Fighting is nothing new to Browning, a former Sue Bennett College football running back. “I started fighting tough man 10 years ago, but I had done some amateur boxing when I was about 8-9 years old,” he said. “Back then my father wouldn’t let me do multiple sports, so I chose football.”

Browning went on to have an excellent career in high school football in West Virginia, where he was an all-state player.

After his career at Sue Bennett College, Browning went to the marine corp. then returned to London. “I wanted to get back into sports so I played softball for a while before a buddy of mine asked me if I wanted to try a tough man contest. I did and it became addicting and before you knew it I was fighting every weekend somewhere,” said Browning.

He finished his tough man career with a 155-5 record with 30 knockouts and a world championship.

“About five years ago a friend of mine, Jimmy Haynes, told me I should try professional boxing because I could punch,” he said. “Here we are today getting ready for the biggest fight of my life.”

Browning said he has always been around boxing. “My middle brother boxed and he was always my hero growing up. He would fight amateurs and win. It was always thrilling to watch him. I always knew I wanted to do something like that.”

His goal is to win a world championship. “When I started this that’s what I wanted to fight for,” said Browning. “This is a big fight. Whoever wins this goes on and fights with Don King Promotion. It’s a chance of a lifetime, this is what I have dreamed of and fought for.”

Browning dropped 37 pounds to qualify for the cruiserweight. “This didn’t come easy for me, I’ve always worked out, but the biggest obstacle in my way was losing this weight,” he said. “I had to be more aggressive in my training and I had to run a lot more. I thought I was out of the military until I started training for this.”

“Of course I had to change my diet as well,” said Browning. “As a heavyweight I had to train, but I could eat what I wanted and not worry about weight. Now I have to watch what I eat and eat the right foods. I had to cut out drinks and sugar.”

Browning, 35, trains out of Lafollette, Tn. at the Campbell County Golden Glove Center as well as Dog House Gym in Glenville, West Virginia. “I train there every two weeks. They will bring in sparing partners to work with me,” he said. “I travel a lot, but this is a chance of a lifetime, so I have to do it.”

“My opponent has already signed with Don King,” said Browning. “He is already a big-time fighter and has fought on the Contender. He is very good and it will be a fight of a lifetime.”

Coyne is a hometown boy, raised in the St. Louis area and played football at the University of Missouri in 2001-2002. He has made steady progress and maintained a perfect record since turning professional in 2006.

He fought his way to the semi-finals during the fourth season of The Contender, televised on Versus, before suffering an accidental head butt that forced him to leave the competition.

Many boxing writers say this is expected to be the toughest test of his young career against the sharp-shooter, Browning. “I’m 35 years old now, I have to step out and take that chance and this is the one I have to take,” said Browning.

“I would like to thank everyone from the community for all the support they have given me in the past,” Browning said. “I hope the people of the community will be watching Saturday night. It’s not a pay-per-view; you can get it on HBO or the Internet at Don King Live.