By William Mackay: British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion David Price (15-0, 13 KO’s) did what many boxing fans expected him to do tonight by blowing away Matt Skelton (28-7, 23 KO’s) a the Aintree Equestrian Centre, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom.

Price badly hurt Skelton with a series of powerful body shots in the 2nd round that sent Skelton down on the canvas in pain. The referee stopped the fight at that point. Skelton’s corner threw the towel in previous to the knockdown.

Frank Maloney, the promoter for Price, will now reportedly match him up against #9 IBF contender Tony Thompson (36-3, 24 KO’s) in February. This will give Price a good opportunity to show the difference between his talent and IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who stopped the 41-year-old Thompson by a 6th round TKO last July.

Thompson rarely threw any punches in that fight and looked nothing like the way he had in his previous fight against Wladimir in 2008. Thompson has really aged since that fight. Price is getting Thompson at the right moment in his career, because a prime Thompson would be a tough fight for Price due to his long arms, his southpaw stance and his nice jab.

Price looked stiff tonight against Skelton and it wasn’t until he went to the body of Skelton that he was able to hurt him. Skelton didn’t like it to the body he went backwards immediately looking to get away from Price. But Price followed after him and landed two more left hands to the midsection to put the 45-year-old Skelton on the canvas.

After Price faces the 41-year-old Thompson, Price would like to fight Tyson Fury.