The Price is right again
Published:
David Price aiming to relaunch his career
The British heavyweight boxing scene is buzzing at the moment, with fight fans spoilt for choice on both the domestic and world stage. There’s little doubt about our star attraction – Anthony Joshua. The 27-year-old world champion, with a record of 18 fights – 18 wins – 18 knockouts.
The Watford super-star is currently in training for a career-defining fight with Dr Steelhammer Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium in April.
AJ tops the bill only in the absence of fellow Englishman Tyson Fury. The former ruler of the world handed his belts back and walked away from the game to commit to a battle against a much more formidable opponent – depression.
Down a level and we have plenty of talented operators plying their trade in the top division, including David Haye, Dillian Whyte, Dereck Chisora and the very well thought of Hughie Fury. But there’s another who may have slipped your mind, one who has ambitions to throw his hat into the ring on the world stage. Hands up if you remember David Price.
Price back in business
The towering Scouser, once thought to be the future of the heavyweight game in this country, has been working away behind the headlines and returns to the ring on Saturday night at London’s Olympia against a respected foe in Christian Hammer – a European champion, and former opponent of Tyson Fury, Michael Sprott and Danny Williams. This match-up promises to tell us exactly where Price is at these days.
6ft 8inch orthodox boxer David Price has all the qualities of a heavyweight world champion, except the punch-resistance needed to compete at the highest level. He goes into Saturday’s contest with a record of 21 wins against three defeats, with each of those losses coming by KO. American Tony Thompson shattered his progress by halting David in two rounds back in 2013, and did the same again in a rematch five months later. Price was also knocked out in two by German Erkan Teper in the summer of 2015. Watch that punch below…..
The comeback trail
He has kept himself quiet since, putting in lowkey performances in Liverpool and Germany as he attempts to salvage his career and get back on track for an assault on the major prizes. But does he have any future at a decent level in the modern game? Could a boxer with question marks over his chin cut it? Getting punched hard in the face is, after all, a regular feature.
Amir Khan certainly managed it, despite every part-time boxing expert saying he couldn’t hold a shot. There’s plenty of others too, but the impact of blows at heavyweight are surely a lot more serious, and there are some massive hitters out there at the minute. At 33-years-old, time is running out for this contender too. He has had a couple of goes now, and if this one doesn’t work out, I doubt he will have another. There’s only so much you can put your body through, and so much disappointment a fighter can take mentally. There’s much easier ways in life to earn a living if you aren’t getting the results.
All professional boxers have that niggling voice tucked away in some dark corner of their brain telling them that they could take one more shot at it, prove the doubters wrong, and create a fairy-tale ending. Price v Hammer on Saturday will tell us if the Englishman has a future in the sport. He will either shut up his doubters, or silence that little voice forever.
