By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten heavyweight contender David Price (12-0, 10 KO’s) wasted little time last night in blasting through domestic level heavyweight John McDermott (26-8, 17 KO’s) in a 1st round knockout that saw McDermott deposited on the canvas three separate times in this British heavyweight title eliminator bout at the Olympia in Liverpool, UK.

Price’s manager Frank Maloney is understandably excited about his fighter’s future and is already expecting big things from him, saying to the BBC Sport “David will dominate the heavyweight division. We now go to the next level. Tonight we saw a real heavyweight star born.”

Price is now the mandatory challenger for British heavyweight Tyson Fury (17-0, 12 KO’s), who may or may not elect to take this fight. Thus far, there’s been no official word from Fury whether he’ll defend his British title against Price, but many boxing fans feel that Fury will vacate his title in the coming days or weeks rather than go through the risky hassle of getting in the ring with someone that can wreck his big money future plans with one big swing with a right hand.

I personally think Maloney needs to step back and look at what Price accomplished with a wider perspective. Price just knocked out a domestic level fighter in 31-year-old McDermott. This wasn’t the Klitschkos, Fury, Alexander Povetkin, Denis Boytsov, Chris Arreola, Alexander Dimitrenko, Robert Helenius, Tony Thompson, Eddie Chambers, Ruslan Chagaev or Odlanier Solis. Price fought a guy that was basically a level below him who was vulnerable defensively and couldn’t handle the right hands he was getting hit with.

Price didn’t have to worry about getting hit back by someone with power and have his own chin checked. That’s going to be the real test for him. Yeah, Price can bowl over local fighters but can he do that against hard hitters that can take his power at the world level? I’m not so sure. If history is any guide, Price could find himself getting knocked out when he faces a brawler that can get to his chin before he gets to theirs.

So while Maloney is obviously excited about Price’s future, he needs to step back and get a little more realistic view of who Price just beat. It wasn’t a top heavyweight; it was someone who I suspect that most of the heavyweights I listed would also knock out in one round just Price. All it showed is that Price can beat a guy early that pretty much all of the top 10 heavyweights in the division could blow out in one round as well. So before Maloney works up a lather around his mouth about Price, he needs to relax because this win didn’t prove diddly squat.