By Oliver McManus: Alfie Price is a man looking to capitalize on the burgeoning British super-lightweight scene and the 24 year old southpaw is already setting his sights on some titles – the Southern Area after five, he wants.
Originally slated to face Rhys Saunders – former Celtic title challenger – Price will instead face Fonz Alexander, himself a respectable journeyman who’s been stopped a mere three times from 84 losses, on June 30th as part of British Warriors’ ‘The Big Bang’ and will be looking to showcase his silky skills…
You’ve got your fight on June 30th, how are you feeling?
I’m feeling great, last bit of training, I’ve got to cut a bit of weight before next week, got to cut about 2kg but I’m feeling sharp at the minute but I’m raring to go.
Do you find it hard to balance work and training?
Not really because I own my company so I can take all the time off I want.
In terms of training have you been looking at improving anything in particular or just staying fight fit?
I don’t really focus on anything other than little things that I adapt to getting right but there’s not a lot of things I can work on other than staying fit because I’m good at all-round boxing so I only really work on my fitness; as long as I’m getting rounds in, in sparring, then I’m alright.
When you look back on your first fight, did it live up to expectations?
It was, I did want a knockout but I thought I was trying a bit too hard to get it because I wasn’t letting the geezer have a rest, I was throwing shots and shots and shots. If I’d have taken my time a bit more I might have got the knockout punch so for my second fight I’ll obviously know that and compose myself a bit more.
Don’t be a raging lunatic, basically!
Do you back yourself to get that knockout or would you rather get some more rounds at this early stage in your career?
I’m a very hard hitter so I’m hurting a lot of people even in sparring so when I’m fighting journeyman I would expect to lay them out, to get them out of there but in my first fight it was against Liam Richards and he’s fought for an English title so it was a real good test for my first pro fight. He’d only been knocked out once in sixty fights.
You were meant to make your debut the week before…
… on the Frank Warren show, yeah, it got cancelled because of the dreadful weather we had…
… how frustrating was that for you?
It was so frustrating because where I had to make weight I had to make 9st 13, it was in the lightweight division, and I’m normally a super lightweight. I was on a diet for six weeks and then when it comes to weighing in and he didn’t show up it was gutting. I had 150 people waiting to turn up and I had to tell them – it ain’t good in your first fight!
Obviously, like you say, you are a super lightweight naturally but is there a chance we’ll see you move up or down the weight categories?
It depends on how I grow because I’m maturing everyday so in one or two years I could fill out a little bit more but at the minute I’m finding super lightweight is my comfortable weight and I think I could do very, very well at that and I reckon I could get to the top quite quick.
When you look at the division you’ve got Jack Catterall, Terry Flanagan who recently lost, how quickly could it be realistically until we get you at that level?
Well I don’t want to rush but I’ve been in with the best, sparring Jorge Linares for the Campbell fight and they were 50-50 rounds so I know I will be up at that mix, I feel there already. I’ve sparred with Ohara Davies and that’s 50-50, it’s all good.
And when you do spar the likes of Ohara and Linares, how much can you learn from that?
That’s a great thing, Ohara isn’t world level yet but when I was sparring Jorge Linares I was thinking “wicked, he’s asking me to come back, he’s paying me to spar with him” and that was giving me great confident –a world champion paying me – that was f***ing exciting mate.
You will be, on June 30th, fighting on a British Warriors show for the 2nd time, can we see more of that link-up?
Well it keeps me busy, I’m guaranteed four fights a year with Frank Warren so as long as I’m staying active, getting busy, I don’t really care who I’m fighting for or what cards I’m on – any show, really.
You say a minimum of four, how many times would you like to be out then?
I want to get five fights, actually, five and 0 by the end of the year and next year we can start hunting titles.
Talking of titles have you got any particular route you want to go down?
Whatever comes first I’ll take, we’re looking at a masters title (British Challenge belt) that you can fight for after three fights – it might be in your third fight, actually – as soon as I can I will challenge that and then we’ll look for the Southern Area after five.
How many can we expect to see supporting you, then, next Saturday?
Well I’m hoping to sell about 100 tickets, I’ve sold about 50 at the moment but all my family leave it to the last minute so they’re all good to go.
Do you find it adds any pressure or is it all just extra motivation?
Nah it just motivates me even more, means I’ve got a following and it gets me excited to perform for them.
Thank you very much Alfie, best of luck on the 30th.