By Trevor McIntyre: Heavyweight David Price (23-6, 19 KOs) and Kash Ali (15-0, 7 KOs) had heated words on Thursday at the final news conference for their scheduled 10 round fight this Saturday night on the undercard of Liam Smith vs. Sam Eggington (LIVE on Sky Sports in the UK and DAZN in the US) at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.
During the face off, Price looked like he wanted to tear Kash’s head off. Price was towering over Kash, glaring at him and talking about how he can’t wait to get him inside the ring on Saturday to smash him.
Ali, 27, got the former British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Price upset when he called him a “quitter”, and said he was going to knock him out. Price, 35, got angry at that point and started jawing at him, letting him know what’s in store for him on Saturday night when he gets him inside the ring. Price is familiar with Ali, as he used to be his sparring partner.
This is an important fight for Price, who has been knocked out in two out of his last three matches. Price cannot afford to lose to this level of a fighter if he wants to stay in the running for a big fight. Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn put Price in tough recently in matching him against Alexander Povetkin and Sergey Kuzmin in consecutive fights. Price was stopped by both guys. Price’s loss to Kuzmin was due to a bicep injury, but he was doing well before the fight had to be stopped.
Price: “I’m going to tell you exactly what’s going to happen to you on Saturday night. This is the beginning stage. You’re going to be like a rabbit in the headlights, and I’m going to run you over and send you back. Do you think I’m going to quit against you? You’re going to go back to being the sparring partner.”
Ali: “I sparred with you two years ago. I’ve had 15 fights. You better know I’m coming for you.”
Price: “Listen, you’re going to be met with a jab. You’re going to get your head punched in.”
Ali: “You’re going to sleep. I’ve been sparring you for the last two years.”
Price: “You’re getting it, mate.”
Price still has potential to get some big money fights if he put together a long winning streak. All he needs is a handful of wins to get ranked in the top 15, and then one good scalp to get a title shot against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. The money from a fight against Joshua would good retirement money for Price. You can’t rule out an upset win for Price, because his power is top notch, but he would obviously need to land something big right away against a fighter like Joshua.
“You ever only one win away from being in a big heavyweight fight, and Kash Ali is a decent British heavyweight,” Hearn said to Fight Hub TV. “If he [Price] can beat him, and beat him in style, then he’s going to get a big fight. I’d like to see Pricey do well. I liked what I saw from him up there today. That was [uncalled for being called a ‘quitter’]. I think for any fighter that hurts, but what Price said was 100 percent true was, ‘if everything that’s happened to me happened to you, you wouldn’t be sitting here,’ because most people would have given up by now. One thing he’s not is a quitter,” Hearn said about Price. “I think the one thing he was taking about was the [Sergey] Kuzmin fight, which he wasn’t ready for. He wasn’t fit. He had an injury, but we’ll see if Pricey can do the business on Saturday. He had the bit between his teeth. He was agitated, shaking a little bit. But that’s only because a lot of the time when you see a fighter shake, it’s not because they’re scared. They’re in an environment that they’re not used to. They’re talking and debating a fighter. It’s not for them. They just want to have a tear up. Price isn’t scared of Kash Ali. He’s not nervous about this fight. He knows he’s got to win. I think he’s excited. He’s going to leave the press conference thinking, ‘Yeah, I can’t wait until Saturday night,'” Hearn said.
