Friday, 19 January 2018: Australian heavyweight Lucas Browne admits he wondered if he would get the chance to appear again in a big-time fight after he was handed a six-month drugs ban.

Lucas Browne admits he questioned whether he would get the chance to box again in a big-time fight after being slugged with a six-month doping ban in November 2016.

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Browne, who became Australia's first world heavyweight champion two years ago when he stopped Uzbekistan's Ruslan Chagaev in Chechnya, fights Britain's Dillian Whyte at London's O2 Arena on March 24 for the WBA silver heavyweight title.

It's a contest that could potentially put the winner through to a world title fight against either Anthony Joshua or Joseph Parker, who also fight in March, or the unbeaten WBC champion Deontay Wilder.

Browne's world was turned upside down when he was suspended after testing positive for traces of ostarine - a bone and muscle strengthening substance.

It was the second time the 38-year-old has been implicated in a doping drama.

Earlier that year he successfully cleared his name after being stripped of the title he won in Grozny when the WBA ruled that clenbuterol found in his system was highly unlikely to have been ingested deliberately.

However, there was no escape when his sample came back positive following a test carried out by the WBC Clean Boxing Program he was voluntarily enrolled to.

Browne conceded at the time he had no one to blame but himself after failing to correctly read the label on the pre-workout supplement he bought in a pharmacy.

The suspension effectively wiped out his 2017 campaign before he returned in style last June with a ruthless second-round stoppage of American Matthew Greer in Sydney.

"Not getting the chance to get these big fights was part of the thought process at the time of the ban," Browne told AAP.

"But I still have a lot to give."

The Perth-based Sydneysider believes he didn't get the credit he deserved back at home after his win over Chagaev and wants to emulate the success of Jeff Horn and give Australia two legitimate world champions.

"Jeff Horn after he beat Pacquiao was given the key to Brisbane and parade of the city," he said.

"I came back to Sydney and there (were) three or four press and cameras, and once the clenbuterol situation came out I had about 10 and everybody got on board which was quite sad.

"I was Australia's first heavyweight champion and there's more to come."