Australia's first heavyweight champion Lucas Browne has vowed to silence Britain's Dillian Whyte once and for all when the pair meet at London's O2 Arena in March.
Browne, who stunned Uzbekistan's Ruslan Chagaev to win the WBA belt in 2016, continued his bitter war of words with Londoner Whyte in the elegant surroundings of Trinity House, in the shadows of the Tower of London.
The pair, who have traded barbs on Twitter for several months, came face to face for the first time in an entertaining press conference chaired by British boxing promoting kingpin Eddie Hearn.
Whyte accused Browne, who has served a drug ban since beating Chagaev, of being a racist junkie, following a claim by the giant Sydneysider that he looked like an orang-utan.
Browne in turn denied the comments were meant in a racist way and were simply a reference to Whyte's long arms and fighting style.
But he said he has no respect for the motormouthed Londoner after he called him a pizza delivery driver with no money who looked like chlamydia.
The 38-year-old said the contempt the two men hold for one another is genuine ahead of the WBC silver heavyweight contest that could see the winner take a step towards challenging undisputed champion Anthony Joshua, who faces New Zealand's Joseph Parker on March 31.
"We generally don't like each other, there is nothing fake about anyone, but that's all good," said Browne, who boasts a perfect record in 25 contests - 22 of which have been decided by knockout.
Whyte also served a two-year-ban in 2013 after traces of the stimulant methylhexaneamine were found in his system and has lost just one of his 26 fights, against Joshua in 2015.
Browne said he will continue to provoke Whyte in the lead up to the March 24 contest and believes his opponent has already shown against Joshua that he's not good enough to beat him.
"I think during this process up until March I think I will really be able to get into his head," Browne told AAP.
"He rocked him (Joshua) with a left hand and then did nothing else after that and once AJ settled into the fight it was all over in seven rounds.
"The fact he doesn't label that one loss on his social media sites says a lot about him.
"I put Whyte on the same level as (Anthony) Mundine, he s*** talks himself into a fight.
"Now if he's happy with that it's fine, it's just not something I can't do."
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