Will David Price Be The Next British Heavyweight Champion?

By William Mackay: Heavyweight David Price (1-0, 1 KOs) looked very impressive in taking out journeyman David Ingleby (6-25-1, 4 KOs) in the 3rd round on Saturday night at the Echo Arena, in Liverpool, England. Price, 25, delivered a walloping right hand that connected to the side of Ingleby’s head in the 3rd, sending the journeyman toppling forward on his face. Bleeding badly from his nose, Ingleby got to his feet, stumbled backwards and fell against the ropes.

The 6’8″ 250 pound Price looked awesome, showing power that few British heavyweights – or any others – can match. What was especially impressive in Price’s performance was his body shots, as he landed a lot of double hooks to the midsection of Ingleby and threw the shots with incredible power. Price did have a slight scare in the fight, when in the 3rd round he lost his mouthpiece and stopped fighting.

The referee told Ingleby to stop fighting. However, he didn’t hear the command and hit Price with a hard right hand to the side of Price’s head. It wasn’t a big deal, because Price took the shot without problems. But Ingleby probably wished he hadn’t done that, because as soon as the action resumed, Price went after Ingleby with vengeance, hitting him with some big shots and then knocking him down with a tremendous right hand to the head.

It’s still too early to tell how much better Price will get, but based on his performance against Ingleby, Price looks like he’s ready to be a major factor on the local scene almost immediately. He’s the biggest heavyweight in the UK, has the power and one of the best jabs I’ve seen in quite some time. Another British heavyweight Tyson Fury, 6’7″, is very interested in fighting Price in the near future.

I think that would be a bad idea of Fury, because Price seems to be a class above him in power, reach and seems to have the superior boxing skills as well. Price moves really well for a heavyweight , and reminds me of a younger version of Wladimir Klitschko.

Price does have some things he needs to work out in his game, specifically using his height and reach a lot more against his shorter opponents. But, I think that’s something that will easily be fixed. He’s already got the basic tools – power, reach, size and movement – to become an instant success in the sport.

Price looks as if he’s ready to be put in with much better competition already. I’d like to see him matched up against someone like Audley Harrison or Matt Skelton and see how he’d do against either one of them. I think he’d knock either of them out.

Another good opponent would be Martin Rogan, who recently defeated Skelton. He’s a good basic heavyweight with some decent skills. I think he’d be a perfect small time test for the young Price to cut his teeth on.

11 Responses to “Will David Price Be The Next British Heavyweight Champion?”