Cruiserweight prospect’s next fight purported to be in April.
For a man with only five professional fights, Pat Brown has made a mighty impression on the boxing public. The former Olympian turned professional less than a year ago, yet he is already being touted as a future world champion.
This is because Pat Brown is clearly not natural. His punches are too hard, he deals with so-called “step-ups” far too easily, and his rate of activity so far is way above what we’ve come to expect from the athletes of nowadays.
He’s dealt with made men like Felix Valera in just two rounds, and he has only been beyond the second round once. That was in his very first fight.
Certainly, Brown is a problem that any given fighter would leave for someone else to deal with, and this makes finding opponents very difficult. We now know the latest one to have decided against fighting him.
It came out in January that John Hedges was ordered to defend his English cruiserweight title against Brown. Hedges recently defended this same title in a win against Ellis Zorro.
Despite being younger than Brown, Hedges was viewed as the challenge to overcome going in, and Brown’s aggressive heavy-handedness would have made for a very interesting pairing with Hedges’s technical proficiency.
It seems, though, that we won’t be seeing that fight just yet, if at all. This is because reports are now stating that Hedges has turned down the offer to fight Brown, this in spite of having been ordered as champion to defend his belt against the best available challenger.
If we’re lucky, we’ll see this fight get revisited at a date not too far from now. Right now, however, all eyes are on who Brown’s next opponent could be.
It seems we won’t have to wait long to find out, either, as rumours are stating that Brown will be returning in Altrincham on a Matchroom Boxing card on the 3rd of April.
Given that the 3rd of April is a Friday, it’s very likely Brown’s next fight will take place on a NXTGEN card, a show Matchroom likes to do every now and then to showcase talented prospects in Britain.
This still leaves us in the dark as to who Brown will be facing off against next, but we do have the name of another opponent he may have fought.
In a reply to a Tweet regarding the news of Brown’s rumoured return, Efetobor Apochi was floated as the next potential foe. However, Sam Jones (Brown’s manager) made a reply in the same thread saying that Apochi’s VISA had been denied.
This heavily implies that Brown had been in negotiations with Apochi, and that would have made for an absolute howler of a contest.
Apochi is 13-3, with all of his wins by knockout and all of his losses by split or majority decision. Even in defeat, he has given the likes of Cheavon Clarke and Brandon Glanton absolute hell, and he even holds an amateur win over Jai Opetaia.
Given the Nigerian’s shuddering power, iron chin, and vastly superior experience, it might have been a little too early for that fight to happen anyway. However, Sam Jones also stated that that fight will “definitely” be revisited next time Brown travels over to the United States.
So, that’s definitely one to look forward to. As of right now, though, we still don’t know who Brown will fight next. We do have an idea of the type of opponent he’ll be fighting, however.
It’s being said that Brown’s next fight will be a very hard one, meaning a serious step-up is in the cards.
It shouldn’t be too long before we find out just who that step-up is.
🚨 PAT BROWN RETURN APRIL 3
💥 World-ranked cruiserweight prospect Pat Brown is tabbed to headline a Matchroom Boxing card in Altrincham on Friday, April 3.
👀 Opponent still to be determined. English champion John Hedges is understood to have rejected an offer for the fight. pic.twitter.com/57xRE8NsI3
— EverythingBoxing | Darshan Desai (@EverythingBoxi2) February 4, 2026
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