(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Deontay Wilder (25-0, 25 KO’s) will be looking to extend his knockout streak to 26 on Saturday night on Showtime against big 6’7” Kelvin Price (13-0, 6 KO’s) in this important fight for the 6’7” Wilder at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California.
Wilder doesn’t know if Price will give him problems but he thinks it’s possible it could be the toughest fight for him thus far if Price fights to the best of his ability. Wilder says he won’t be looking to knock him out.
His main focus is just winning the fight whatever way possible because that’s his main priority. He doesn’t want to be just a one trick pony that just goes out there looking to knock everyone out because there’s a lot more to boxing than just getting Kos.
Wilder said “I’m not saying it will be my toughest fight but it could be my hardest.”
That statement might not make a lot of sense to a lot of fans but you have to realize the type of opponent Wilder will be fighting on Saturday. Price isn’t a slugger, and he doesn’t have great offensive skills.
He’s not someone that’s going to bring it offensively and test Wilder’s chin with something big or look to trade with him. What makes Price so good is his defensive skills, because he’s really hard to hit. He backs away when his opponents come at him, and he’s good at moving laterally around the ring to avoid shots.
For a 6’7” fighter, Price is really light on his feet and good at picking off and avoiding shots. Wilder won’t have a stationary target for his punches, and it’s going to be tough for him to land his long right hands because Price is always looking to keep from getting hit. He’s the type of fighter whose focus is on defense much of the time, and when you have someone like that it’s really hard to land shots.
Wilder is going to have to create his opportunities in this fight if he wants to win by a knockout. If he doesn’t care about the KO, then he can definitely win an easy 10 round decision just by jabbing Price and being content to win that way. But if Wilder wants to impress boxing fans with his power and his great potential, he’s going to need to chase Price around the ring to corner him so he can land his big power shots. It might not be easy because Price sometimes looks like he’s just trying to survive, and that makes him almost impossible to knockout.
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