(Photo credit: Team Sauerland) By Scott Gilfoid: #11 WBO, #14 WBA heavyweight contender David Price (19-2, 16 KOs) weighed in on Thursday for his fight against a flabby looking Erkan Teper (14-0, 9 KOs) on Friday night at the MHP Arena in Ludwigsburg, Germany. The 6’8” Price weighed in at 249.3 pounds and looked in good shape, which is more than I can say for his opponent.
Teper, who usually comes into his fights in the mid-230s, came in at a portly looking 252 pounds. That’s a career high for the 33-year-old Teper, and it makes you wonder why he chose this moment for him come in looking out of shape. Did Teper intentionally put on some blubber so that he would have more size to compete against the 249lb Price, or did he suffer some kind of injury during training camp that prevented him from burning off the flab?
It could be anything. But it’ definitely not a good a sign that Teper is going into the fight look as fat as he is. I mean, I think Teper will still be very powerful for around four or five rounds, but if he hasn’t gotten Price out by that point, I see him gassing out and getting beaten by the in shape looking Price.
Price and Teper will be fighting for the vacant European heavyweight title. It’s important for Price to win the Euro strap because he’s interested in facing the unbeaten #2 WBC Anthony Joshua. Joshua is going after the Commonwealth heavyweight title in his next fight against Gary Cornish on September 12th. After that, Joshua will be fighting for the vacant British heavyweight title against unbeaten talent Dillian Whyte in November or December. If Joshua wins those two titles, he’ll want to go after the European heavyweight title, whether it be in Price’s possession or Teper’s.
If Joshua wins that title too, then the plan is for him to go after a world title against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. It obviously is in Price’s best interest to win the European title so that he can get a nice payday fight against Joshua. It would be a fight that would give Price a likely career high payday if he can get the Joshua fight. Price also thinks it’s a winnable one for him because he feels he knows how to beat the 6’6” Joshua.
“I’m not worried about Teper, I just need to concentrate on what I’m doing,” Price said. “He’s a good boxer, he’s undefeated and has some decent wins on his record, but he’s never fought anyone like me. Mentally and physically, I couldn’t be better prepared. I’m 100% confident and ready to bring the belt home!”
Teper is a really big puncher, and I can definitely see him scoring a knockout over Price. As long as Teper doesn’t fade in the 2nd half of the fight, I see him scoring a knockout win over Price. I think there’s a very, very good chance that Teper gets to Price within the firs four rounds to get a knockout. If Price is still hanging around after the 4th round, I’ll be very surprised.
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