“Irrelevant” – Browne not interested in Ward or Tinker comparisons ahead of fight with former UFC star

Tony Browne [5-1] isn’t interested in Leandro Silva’s previous dance partners, pointing out all that matters is he is on song against the Brazilian tonight.

The former UFC fighter has recently shared the ring with Browne’s former amateur rivals Joe Ward and Matthew Tinker, losing on points to both.

It affords the Dubliner the chance to make a favourable comparison or even mini statement if he were to stop the tough and game Brazilian.

However, ‘Super Fly’ isn’t thinking along those lines at all, stating all that counts is the here and now and how he performs against Silva in his first fight since surprise defeat to Chico Kwasi.

“To be honest, it’s irrelevant who he’s fought or who I’ve fought. Saturday night we fight each other and it’s about focusing on the fighter who shows up Saturday night for me,” he tells Irish-boxing.com before predicting a tough night.

“I’m expecting a tough fight but, the way I’ve started my career, I always expect that. I’ve had plenty of hard rounds in fights and sparring so I’ll be ready.”

A lot of Browne’s sparring ahead of his first fight since last summer has been done in Manchester. The 27-year-old has used his coach Steven O’Rourke’s links to the English city to get work in top gyms.

Indeed, it got to the stage social media detectives were asking if Browne had left long-time coach O’Rourke and teamed up with Joe Gallagher.

Commenting on that he adds: “We’ve made great connections over in Manchester the last while and you’re training and sparring with top tier guys over there. You need that environment to progress but Steven is my coach. I’ve been with him since the first time I put a pair of gloves on so no one knows me like him.”