By William Mackay: Fighting on the undercard of the Tyson Fury vs. John McDermott bout on Friday night, 2008 Olympic super heavyweight Bronze Medalist destroyed a badly over-matched Pavol Polakovic (12-9, 1 KO’s) in the 1st round of a scheduled six round bout at the Brentwood Centre, in Brentwood, Essex. Price, 26, knocked the 36-year-old southpaw Polakovic down twice before the bout was finally stopped by referee James Davies at 1:42 of the 1st round.
Oddly enough, neither of the knockdowns appeared to come from hard shots. Polakovic went down both times from weak glancing blows and just looked pretty much intimidated, as if he didn’t want to be there. Given that he had no power, and had lost seven of his last eight bouts coming into the fight, it’s not much of a surprise that Polakovic folded so early.
However, Price’s management might want to consider matching him a little tougher in the future because for fighters that have Olympic credentials, they need better opposition when they’re working their way up the chain earlier in their career for them to progress. The 6’8” Price has knocked out three of his last four opponents in the 1st round.
That should be a signal that he needs to be put in with better fighters or at least ones that can fight back and don’t go down from the first shots. You have to wonder why Price is being matched so softly. Could it be they’re worried about his chin? He did have problems in the Olympics when matched against the big puncher Roberto Cammarelle.
The thing is punchers like Cammarelle are quite common in the pro ranks, so Price is going to have to get used to fighting guys like that or else he’s not going to be have a very productive career.
In an article by the Liverpoolecho.co.uk, Price had this to say about his fight on Friday night:
“All I can do is beat the man they put in front of me. When I was walking back from the ring the matchmaker wished me all the best and when I told I’d already won he was shocked. He was convinced that he’d give me the rounds but I just got him out of there.” Price can’t punch pretty well, but needs to learn how to use his height. Like the 6’4” cruiserweight Enzo Maccarinelli, Price tends to fight too close to his opponents and is vulnerable. With a history of having chin problems, Price needs to learn how to use his reach if he wants to be successful.
Price had this to say about Tyson Fury: “I’ve never really been impressed with his skills and that opinion has certainly not changed but he did show a lot of heart because he was very tired in the middle of the fight. Winning that fight meant an awful lot to him, you could tell, and he really worked hard for it. So well done. But as I said, as far as skill is concerned, there is nothing there to worry me.” A lot of people would like to see a match-up between the 6’7” Fury and the 6’8” Price.
In the amateur ranks, a 22-year-old Price defeated a 17-year-old Fury by a decision in 2006. Fury is older now and a lot stronger. It would be a much more interesting fight between the two giant heavyweights right now. Price is the more skilled of the two, and there probably be no disagreement from Fury about that.
However, Fury hits hard and is very unorthodox. He could end up stopping Price if he connected with something big. Price is good but vulnerable at the same time.
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