Lucas Browne vs. Ruslan Chagaev: Winner, Recap and Reaction

Lucas "Big Daddy" Browne made history on Saturday, becoming the first Australian fighter to claim the WBA heavyweight world title when he defeated Ruslan Chagaev in a match in Grozny, Chechnya.

Aus-Boxing.com shared a photo of the new champion following the match:

Browne won in the 10th round with a stoppage call, four rounds after he was knocked to the mat by Chagaev.

Grantlee Kieza of Australia's Courier-Mail tweeted out congratulations following Browne's victory:

Browne, a former MMA fighter, improves to 24-1 in his career. The 10th round belonged to him, per the Associated Press' Musa Sadulayev (via Yahoo):

"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 Uzbekistani champion was able to continue, he was backed into the ropes by Browne, who hit him with a barrage of unanswered right hooks until the referee stopped the fight."

The WBA shared video of Browne's impressive knockout:

Once it was over, Browne accomplished a feat that fellow Australians "Boshter" Bill Squire, Bill Lang, Kahli Meehan and Alex Leapai failed to do.

As noted by Sadulayev, Browne holds the "regular" WBA belt, and Britain's Tyson Fury is the "unified" champion since he holds the WBO belt.

Although Chagaev is a year older, and at 34-3 has 12 more fights under his belt, Browne came into the match with a nearly seven-inch height advantage and three-inch reach advantage.

Boxing host Ben Damon thought Browne got off to a good start in the match:

However, Chagaev sent a bloodied Browne to the mat in the sixth round. Kieza commented that it would take a strong effort for Browne to win after going down:

He did just that, and Kieza was impressed with the effort: "I've covered a lot of big fights going back to 1980, but that has to be one of the greatest efforts I've ever seen...legend."

Adam Abramowitz of Saturday Night Boxing thinks Browne may have a tough road ahead of him:

Even if that is the case, Browne will forever be able to say he held the WBA heavyweight world title at one time.

It was a great effort, and ultimately a historic one as well.

Post-Fight Reaction

Browne took to Twitter after the match to express his gratitude to all who have helped him achieve this milestone:

Kieza praised Browne throughout, but he also gave props to trainer Rodney Williams:

Ricky Hatton, a three-time light welterweight champion and boxing promoter, was happy to see Browne take home the belt:

Steve Bunce of BoxNation called the result a "shock":

It certainly was given the circumstances surrounding Chagaev's early-round knockdown. Now, going forward, it will be Browne with the belt around his waste but also a target on his back.