TONY THOMPSON believes he is just days away from ruining all hopes of David Price and Tyson Fury meeting.
The American double world title challenger (36-3) meets British and Commonwealth champion Price (15-0) in a 12 round international heavyweight contest at Liverpool’s Echo Arena on Saturday February 23.
Price v Fury is the biggest domestic clash right now, and purses bids were due to be held on Wednesday, but Tyson pulled out.
Jack Scales – 2012 proved to be a fruitful year for British boxing, in both the paid and unpaid ranks. The Olympic games showcased a plethora of young talent, whilst the professional game blessed us with emphatic performances from the likes of Carl Froch, Ricky Burns, Kell Brook, Toney Bellew and Carl Frampton. In spite of this success, 2012 still suffered its fair share of disappointment. Price and Fury’s failure to fight for the British title -as a result of Fury’s decision to vacate – was one of them, but hopefully this can be rectified in 2013.
With the exception of David Haye, these two behemoths are without question the best pair of Heavyweights that Britain has to offer. Additionally, because of their size and ever advancing skill-sets, they have been touted by some as potential conquerors of the Klitschkos. Are they presently capable of this? Most respected fight analysts would give you a resounding no. However, what these two fighters are capable of is offering the publican enthralling and potentially brutal contest.
By Michael Collins: Undefeated heavyweight contender Tyson Fury (20-0, 14 KO’s) has reportedly turned down a big £1 million offer from British promoter Frank Maloney for a fight against the unbeaten 6’8” David Price (15-0, 13 KO’s) for an all British clash in June, possibly in Anfield or London.
By Michael Collins: David Price’s promoter has found another older fighter for Price to fight in 41-year-old Tony Thompson (36-3, 24 KO’s) on February 23rd at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. Price’s fans think this is a great step up fight for the 29-year-old Price. It isn’t.
By Michael Collins: British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion David Price (15-0, 13 KO’s) figures he’ll capture the EBU heavyweight title and fight in a world heavyweight title eliminator bout by the end of 2013. Price has been matched against older heavyweights instead of fighters that could test him and possibly even beat him.
By Jeff Sorby: Big 6’9” unbeaten former British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (20-0, 14 KO’s) didn’t see much he liked of Deontay Wilder (26-0, 26 KO’s) in watching his 3rd round knockout win over Kelvin Price (13-1, 6 KO’s) last Saturday night.
Fury sees Wilder as having little more than his right hand going for him, and he doesn’t think that’s going to be enough for Wilder to amount to much in the heavyweight division. Fury, 24, also thinks that his recent opponent Kevin Johnson would beat Wilder if the two guys went at it.
Fury said on his social media site twitter “Just watched Wilder fight! Not impressed at all. He couldn’t beat Kevin Johnson! Very raw and open to big shots. Long way to go; big punch. Wilder and [David] Price are the same, untested hype! To be a top fighter you need more than a punch! They have a long way to go. Why not fight each other.”
Fury isn’t giving Wilder much credit for his knockout win over Price for some reason. To be sure, Wilder did look really raw in that fight, and he definitely needs a lot of improvement.
An offer was made to Tyson Fury guaranteeing him a £650,000 purse to challenge David Price for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles.
Tyson’s promoter Mick Hennessy turned down the offer, describing it as a “joke” and added that David would have to “step up to the plate on our terms”.
By Michael Collins: David Price (15-0, 13 KO’s) successfully defended his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles tonight with a nice 2nd round TKO victory over Mat Skelton (28-7, 23 KO’s) at the Aintree Equestrian Centre, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom. Price took his time with the 45-year-old Skelton, but then turned up the heat on the aging fighter in 2nd round after hitting him with a nice body shot that sent Skelton retreating to the ropes.
Price then unleashed an 8-punch flurry that ended with two solid lefts to the body that put Skelton down on his hands and knees on the canvas. Skelton’s corner threw in the towel before the knockdown but the referee failed to see it.
Skelton landed several decent right hands in the opening round after rushing Price in the opening seconds of the round. However, Skelton didn’t have the power or the handspeed to worry the 6’8″ Price, and by the end of the round Skelton was already starting to look tired.
By Michael Collins: British/Commonwealth heavyweight champion David Price (14-0, 12 KO’s) faces a badly overmatched opponent tonight in 45-year-old Matt Skelton (28-6, 23 KO’s) at the Aintree Equestrian Centre, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom. This isn’t a fight that’s going to give Price anything other than a brief sparring session before he knocks Skelton out.
The 29-year-old Price has been brought along really slowly despite his Olympic background and he needs to be pushed a little faster.
Price says “I’m moving fast towards a world title shot. Next year will be massive for me”
The talk is that Price will be looking to fight at 40ish American heavyweight in 2013. In other words, another journeyman level opponent that won’t do much for him. However, if the fight is televised in the United States, it will give American boxing fans a chance to see Price fight.
By Michael Collins: Unbeaten British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion David Price (14-0, 12 KO’s) not surprisingly destroyed a well past his prime 40-year-old Audley Harrison (28-6, 21 KOs’) in the 1st round tonight at the Echo Arena, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom. Price hurt Harrison with a straight right hand that didn’t look like it was thrown with a lot of power or speed.
It was more like a jab than anything. However, Harrison had his head turned sideways for some reason and the shot hurt him. Harrison then foolishly backed up to the ropes and just stood there while Price unloaded on him with everything but the kitchen sink. After getting hit with one especially hard right hand, Harrison fell down just as the referee jumped in to stop the slaughter.
After the fight the British media seemed to be making a big fuss out of Price’s victory, pouring the compliments over his head endlessly without thinking about who Price just beat. This was Audley Harrison who had already been exposed by the likes of David Haye and Martin Rogan among many others, and it wasn’t much of a victory. The question is why is a 29-year-old former Olympic bronze medalist like Price still being matched the likes of Harrison? Does Price’s promoter know something about his chin that other fans don’t? If his chin is okay then Price should have been WAY past guys like Harrison years ago. Price is wasting too much time in his career facing fodder opposition instead of quality.