By Mark Havey: On Saturday night the hard hitting giant from Liverpool stepped into the ring with his former conqueror. David Price vs Tony Thompson didn’t exactly divide opinions. A few fans and writers picked Thompson to repeat his performance, but most agreed that Thompson had got lucky in his last fight and Price was the better of the two, despite losing in the 2nd round in their first clash.
That was the thinking of most, and they were wrong, including me. The rematch ended with another knock out and this time it was the 5th round.
I was to hyped to write Saturday. It was better to let the dust settle. I learnt long ago that it is easy to write something in the heat of the moment that doesn’t reflect your thoughts the next day. People get caught up in the moment and regret what they have said. This is even more so when you write a article that is out there forever. You tell fans one thing on fight night, but the next day you have changed your mind.
So what does the future hold for David Price? Immediately after the fight I was saying to my friend that David Price’s career was in tatters and likely over. My thoughts haven’t changed a whole lot, for once. I find it difficult to see where he goes from here. Certainly he has all of the heavyweight qualities to make him a dangerous contender, his power is frightening. But he planned on becoming a champion, not a contender.
Audley Harrison has proved that you can fight for as long as you like? But I’m sure Price has too much pride for that. When he planned out his future, being knocked out twice in a row wouldn’t have played a part. Let’s not forget that Thompson is a 40 year old man, a very good 40 year old, but his makes him a OAP in boxing terms.
Price of course is 30 years old which has led to some fans urging him to quit. That may be a little premature. Some fans don’t realize that due to heavyweights moving around less and throwing less punches, they age slower than welterweights. But these fans are not way off the mark. Price has been smashed back to domestic level which isn’t ideal at his age. Luckily for him, aside from his last fight, he isn’t battle word.
It takes a lot to get back into the ring straight away with someone that brutally knocked you out, it takes even more to beat that person. Lennox Lewis has done this more than once which is why he is regarded so highly. But David Price is not Lennox Lewis. Price still has options but we need to see where he is currently at to decide how far he can go. I would like to see him fight Dereck Chisora next.
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