Browne becomes Australia's first WBA champion


Lucas Browne became Australia's first world heavyweight boxing champion early Sunday, surprisingly beating WBA regular champion Ruslan Chagaev by technical knockout. The unbeaten Browne was knocked down in the sixth round but fought back to send Chagaev to the canvas with a big right in the 10th.While the Uzbek champion got to his feet, he was immediately backed into the ropes by Browne, who hit him with a barrage of unanswered right hooks until the referee stopped the fight. Chagaev claimed he was able to continue but accepted the referee's decision. Browne wins the so-called regular version of the WBA belt, while Britain's Tyson Fury is considered the WBA's "unified" champion, since he also holds the WBO version. "It (the win) does really put the cherry on top," said Browne. "It moves me into better positions for bigger fights, bigger money fights. But also just the history factor, it makes me proud of being Australian." The bout took place early Sunday morning in the Russian region of Chechnya, whose strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov a fan of Chagaev's had a personal role in staging the fight.