By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten heavyweight prospect David Price (11-0, 9 KO’s) says he plans on going after John McDermott (26-7, 17 KO’s) from the 1st round to try and score a quick knockout this Saturday night in their British heavyweight title eliminator bout at the Olympia in Liverpool, UK.

Price, 28, has knocked out eight of his eleven opponents in three rounds or less and he seems to prefer getting it over with as quickly as possible to avoid getting hit. This could be in response to him having a questionable chin, as we saw him getting batted around in the Olympics when facing quality opposition. However, since Price turned pro in March 2009, he’s been matched against weak opponents that didn’t have the power or the talent to really test his questionable chin.

Price told the Liverpool Echo “I’m going to try and get him early, let him know how hard I punch and how strong I am. Even if he does get in close quarters, I do believe I can deal with it.”

It sounds like Price is well aware of his own weaknesses in mentioning the close quarters comment, because he’s got a weak inside game and is vulnerable to the extreme when his opponents get inside his long reach to start tagging him.
The winner of Saturday’s gets to face British champion Tyson Fury if he doesn’t immediate vacate the fight, which is kind of what I’m expecting him to do if Price wins it.

Price may have problems if he’s unable to score a quick knockout over McDermott because he’s going to be fighting all out and he’s got a decent right hand. It probably doesn’t take huge power to knock Price out, so if McDermott can stay in the fight long enough to test Price’s chin with 20 to 30 hard shots, we could see Price falling into the ropes again. The important thing for McDermott is for him to get Price’s respect early by hitting him as hard as possible and then flurry on him when Price starts staggering around the ring.