By Scott Gilfoid: Trainer Dave Coldwell says his fighter David Price (20-3, 17 KOs) is willing to take the fight with IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. They’re ready and more than willing to accept that fight. Price revealed recently that he had toppled Joshua during a sparring session in the past five years ago.
Coldwell likes the aggressiveness that Price showed in revealing that information, which is usually something that’s not shared by fighters in discussing their sparring with different guys. Price opted to break a taboo by revealing what happened during the sparring session with Joshua in 2011.
Some would say that this is a sign of the 33-year-old Price being desperate to get the fight against Joshua. It does seem kind of weird that Price is flapping his gums about the past right now with him been recently knocked out by Erkan Teper in two rounds last year.
“What Pricey is saying is that if Joshua is struggling for an opponent, he’s in. He’s willing,” said Coldwell to skysports.com. “You never know. Did Kell Brook expect to get a phone call telling him he’s fighting Gennady Golovkin? That’s where we are.”
Gosh, Coldwell sounds like he’s working hard to get Price the Joshua fight. I think he needs to back off and let Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn make the decision about who he’ll be fighting next in November. I think Joshua and Hearn already know full well that the 6’8” Price badly wants a fight with them. Coldwell doesn’t need to overdo it by continuing to blab about Price wanting to fight the 6’6” Joshua. At a certain point, I think it just reeks of desperation and that leads to you not getting what you want.
Price needs to forget about Joshua and start fighting some opposition with a pulse instead of horrible opponents. I mean, I never heard of Price’s last opponent Vaclav Pejsar from last May. Where in the heck did Price’s promoters at Sauerland Events find that guy? I don’t see the point of fights like that. It’s not even fair in my view. You stick some 3rd tier guy in with Price, he knocks them out, and then starts calling out Joshua for a world title shot.
I don’t understand that kind of thing. Price seems to want to take the backdoor route to a world title shot against Joshua rather than earning a title shot by taking on and beating some high caliber top 15 contenders like Kubrat Pulev, Joseph Parker or Luis Ortiz. Is it too much to ask for Price to face one of those guys and beat them to get a title shot against Joshua?
If Joshua keeps fighting guys that have done nothing to get a title shot against him, then I don’t see how he can ever get popular worldwide. He’s just going to be seen as someone that faces weak, unproven opposition each time rather than fighters that have proven themselves.
“I’ve always said he’s too nice, too amiable, too soft. He’s like the Big Friendly Giant. I’ve told him he needs to get that dog in him, get that devil in him,” said Coldwell about Price.
I wouldn’t think that Price is showing more aggressiveness just because he spilled the beans about a sparring episode that took place between him and Joshua half a decade ago. Shouldn’t being devilish involve how a fighter goes about his trade rather than him simply talking outside of the ring? At this point in Price’s career, I don’t think it matters what he says outside of the ring.
The only thing that the boxing world knows is that Price has failed miserably against the two best opponents he’s faced in Tony Thompson and Erkan Teper. Price can talk tough until he’s blue in the face, but I don’t think he’s going to be able to erase the image a lot of boxing fans have of him being knocked out in the 2nd round by Teper last year or getting knocked out twice by an out of shape Tony Thompson, who was in his 40s when he beat him.
I think Price is going about trying to get a fight against Joshua the wrong way. Price is better off being silent and just going out and defeating actual contenders in the top 15. Talking is probably not going to get Price what he wants. Price needs to out and defeat guys like Pulev, Jarrell Miller, Dereck Chisora, Hughie Fury, Dominic Breazeale, Eric Molina, Gerald Washington, Andy Ruiz, Malik Scott, Carlos Takam and Johann Duhaupas.
Price’s promoters at Sauerland Events can probably get some of those guys to fight him. I don’t know why they don’t set Price up with one of those fighters for his next fight, because he needs to start collecting scalps if he wants to get a title shot before he ages out. Price appears to be slowing down in terms of hand speed from the fighter he was back in 2012, and he’s putting on weight. I’m not talking about the good weight. Price looked flabby in his last fight against Pejsar last May.