[1][2] He and his widowed mother arrived in the United States on March 11, 1888, and took up residence in New York City.
He also spent time at the Pastime Athletic Club, where George Bothner taught him to wrestle.
[2] Brown first became acquainted with boxing at Wood's gym and eventually trained boxers in addition to wrestlers.
His notable fights included Jim Coffey vs. Frank Moran, Fred Fulton vs. Al Reich, and Benny Leonard vs. Eddie Fitzsimmons.
[3][4][5] In 1920, the boxing commission implemented a plan to rotate referees and Brown, who preferred to choose his own assignments, resigned.
[6] In 1921 he turned down the opportunity to serve as the referee for the Jack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier fight due to a previous disagreement with promoter Tex Rickard.
The suit ended when Johnston made a statement denying that he had used the word "financial" and added that he never meant to accuse Brown and Phelan of "malfeasance or misfeasance of any kind".