By Scott Gilfoid: The big punching heavyweight David Price (19-2, 16 KOs) says he’s ready to face unbeaten #2 WBC contender Anthony Joshua (13-0, 13 KOs) right now. Price, 6’8”, feels like this is a good time to take on the 2012 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist Joshua, because he would be getting him at the start of his career before he’s picked up experience.
Price, 31, would prefer to face the 6’6” Joshua with a title on the line, but that’s not going to happen because Joshua isn’t a world champion, and it’s unclear if he’ll ever win a strap.
Knockout artist Dillian Whyte is chomping at the bit to face Joshua for the British heavyweight title, but he’s still waiting to see if Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn will allow Joshua to take the fight.
“We’re ready to make that fight whenever,” Price said to Skysports.com. “If you look at this logically, it suits me better to fight Joshua now. He’s only had 13 fights and he hasn’t gone past three rounds, so I’ve got the experience in my favor. But I would be willing to fight him any time.”
There have been rumors floating around about Price having stretched Joshua during a sparring session not too long ago. I guess if those rumors are true, it would help explain Price’s confidence of wanting to get Joshua in the ring. While Price has a shaky chin and questionable stamina, he does throw actual punches. He’s different from the guys that Hearn has been matching Joshua up against in his two years as a pro.
The guys that Hearn has been finding for Joshua pretty much don’t throw anything other than weak jabs. With Price, you can count on him trying to take Joshua’s head off with every shot. The problem with that is if Price lands even one of his shots solid, we could see Joshua’s hype train derailed for a while until Hearn can get it back on the track with the right match-making of course.
“It’s a fight I want to sit down and talk over but it has to be a 50-50 fight,” Price said. “I am not getting ‘brought in’ like a Kevin Johnson type of fighter.”
So in other words, unless Price gets half the cash for the fight against Joshua, then no fight. I don’t know if Hearn is going to go for that idea because Joshua brings in big crowds with him just facing awful 3rd tier opposition that doesn’t fight back. The only way I can see Price possibly getting a 50-50 deal with Joshua is if they sold out Wembley Stadium. That’s not going to happen though because neither guy is popular enough to bring in that kind of audience.
As such, I don’t see Hearn allowing Joshua to fight Price unless he gets him at the nice price that he brought in guys like Kevin Johnson and Jason Gavern for Joshua. If Hearn isn’t going to give Price the 50-50 deal he’s looking for, then Price would be better of moving on and staying in his own lane until Hearn decides that he wants to give him a 50-50 deal. Personally, I can’t see Hearn ever giving Price a 50-50 deal with Joshua.
If Whyte destroys Joshua in one or two rounds like some people think he’ll do, then I could see Price getting a nice 50-50 deal with Joshua. However, I doubt Hearn will let the big punching Price anywhere near Joshua if/when he gets knocked out by Whyte.
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