‘Big 12’ trains with world champ Usyk

"This is one of the best things that has happened to me since I became a professional boxer," said Jamaican heavyweight Ricardo 'Big 12' Brown yesterday, when he spoke with STAR Sports.

Brown is in Valencia, Spain, as part of the training camp of world heavyweight multi-title holder Oleksandr Usyk, who is preparing for a blockbuster fight for all the world heavyweight titles, against Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia on May 18.

Usyk, who is from the Ukraine, holds the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO world heavyweight titles, and will be defending them against the WBC champion Fury, who is from the United Kingdom.

It will be one of the major fights this year, after being talked about for a long time and has attracted a lot of attention worldwide, with both fighters earning multimillion-dollar purses.

Brown, who has an 11-0 record, all by knockouts, is making a name for himself on the heavyweight boxing scene in Canada and hopes to get into the top-10 world rankings soon. His six feet, eight-inch size and punching power made him an ideal training partner for Usyk, who at six feet, three inches is going up against the six feet, nine inches Fury, one of the most powerful heavyweights on the boxing scene.

Brown said yesterday that the training camp has been going great.

"The camp is for a month, and we work hard each day. The champion is a serious man. Working with him, I am learning a lot because he is a good fighter. He is smart and hits hard, and when I am in the ring with him, I learn from him and his trainers as we go along.

"It is exciting to be in the ring with a fighter who is at the top of his game, and to add to it, he is all business when it is work time, and everyone around him is positive. You must do your best to keep up with him, and I learn a lot as we go along each day" he said.

This exposure, Brown said, shows him the type of work to put in to be a champion.

Brown will be fighting again in another few months and said that he will be well prepared for that encounter, because of what he has gained from being in the training camp with a world champion.