Andrew the fighter you are talking about is Frank "rootin tootin" Newton. How do I know? I use to be his sparing partner and I was there for the fight. It was on the under card of Hagler vs Duran in Las Vegas. And no Brown's hand speed was not better than Frank's. In fact most of the crowd and the announcers agreed that Newton won the fight. Unfortunately for Frank his EGO got in the way of his ability. He fought Terrence Ali in Atlantic City who had a reputation for running across the ring in the first round and trying to knock you out. I told Frank this and he could have cared less. He bitched because he didn't have his own private dressing room, and so on. Ali ran across the ring knocked Frank down he survived the round but Ali poured it own and they ended up stopping the fight in the 3rd round. FYI Frank now sells car in OKC and weighs about 220 pounds. He's a great guy fun to be a round but would never train, or take his talent seriously. I wished I had his ability when I fought I would either knock you out or you would knock me out. Frank was smooth and had incredibly fast hands and LOTS of power for a lightweight.