By Scott Gilfoid: Frank Maloney, the promoter for British heavyweight David Price (15-2, 13 KO’s), says that Price failed to follow the game plan that they had for him for his fight against Tony Thompson (38-3, 26 KO’s) tonight in Liverpool, England.
The plan was for Price to use his jab and box Thompson, Maloney said. Instead, Price chose to slug with Thompson in a toe-to-toe battle that ended with Price getting knocked out in the 5th round.
Maloney said to Sky afterwards “The wrong tactics were used. That wasn’t the game plan I expected him to go into the ring with. It wasn’t the one I was told he would use. It definitely wasn’t the game plan that should have been used in that fight. I think he maybe wanted to prove a point. I think it was the inference from Lennox Lewis, because Lewis sometimes liked a slugfest. But you can’t have a Lennox Lewis and David Price because they’re entirely two different fighters. You have a 6’8” guy and he should keep his fights long. This reminded me of Lennox Lewis vs. Shannon Briggs. I’m thinking ‘What am I watching here; this is not what you’re supposed to be doing. You’re supposed to work on the jab. It’s too soon to talk about what’s next. I have to sit down with David. We’re now at domestic and European level and we have to build on that.”
In hindsight having Lewis helping out with the training for Price wasn’t all that good of an idea. Price needed an Emmanuel Steward type of trainer like Jonathon Banks instead of Lewis. We had heard how Lewis wanted Price to show his meanness in the ring, and I think Price might have chose to follow Lewis’ instructions instead of fighting smart, using his jab and pacing himself. Price fought Thompson’s fight. That’s how Thompson likes to fight by working at a fast pace and throwing a lot of shot punches from close range. It was classic Thompson tonight and Price got lured into it.
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