By Trevor McIntyre: Five days after his fight against heavyweight David Price, Kash Ali has issued an apology for biting the former British/Commonwealth champion last Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. The 27-year-old Ali (15-1, 7 KOs) has already had his license to fight suspended by the British Boxing Board of Control for the biting incident, which took place during the fifth round against Price.
Ali was disqualified in the fifth round by referee Mark Lyson after he tackled the 35-year-old Price to the canvas and bit him on the midsection while he was down. Price (24-6, 19 KOs) later said that this wasn’t the first time he was bit by Ali during the fight.
“I would like to apologize for my unacceptable behavior in my fight against David Price,” Ali said via skysports.com. “I am sorry to all boxing fans, to my team, my family, the British Boxing Board, David Price, his team, and his family. I am hugely embarrassed for my actions and the way the whole fight unfolded.”
Ali 27, was on the verge of knocking Price out in the fifth round when he imploded mentally in tackling him to the canvas, and biting him on the midsection. Price looked both tired and hurt when he was covering up against the ropes in the fifth. Ali landed a number of hard shots to the had that had Price looking like he was wilting under the bombardment. But even as exhausted and hurt as he was, Price nailed Ali with a body shot and then a big uppercut that had hurt. Both shots from Price hurt Ali to the point where he would have likely been flattened had he not tackled the 6’8″ Price to the canvas.
“I was out of order what happened,” Kash Ali said to IFL TV. “I had him hurt in the fifth. I could have stopped him, which I would have. Ridiculous. There was no excuse for it. It was the first time I was on the big stage. Stupid mentality. I apologize and to all the fans. I’m sorry for what I have done. It won’t happen again. It was stupid and out of order. He said, ‘You nearly had me beat, and you decided to do something stupid.’ I’ll be back, and nothing stupid will happen again,” Ali said.
For his protection, Ali was escorted out of the ring by security after the fight. Some people in the crowd threw drinks at Ali as he walked back to his dressing room.
Ali is expected to be meeting with the BBBofC at a disciplinary hearing for them to decide what kind of punishment to hand down to him. A suspension for a number of months is expected to be given to Ali. Price has already said that he’s not interested in giving Ali a rematch, but perhaps he might change his mind later. With all the talk that has been generated over the Price-Ali fight, it might be a good idea for Price to face him again. Although Price won the fight, it wasn’t a conclusive victory due to him being badly hurt by Ali in the fifth round. Had Ali not bitten Price, there’s a chance that he might have knocked him out once he gotten back up. That’s the confusing about Ali’s actions. He was still in the fight, and he had an excellent chance of winning if he’d not resorted to biting Price while he was down. As far as his next fight goes, Price said he wants to fight the winner of the April 20th fight between David Allen and former WBA heavyweight champion Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne. Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said he was interested in matching Price against the winner of that fight, but now he’s talking about wanting to match Dereck Chisora against the winner. Where that leaves Price is unclear.
Price looked much improved in the fight with Ali in terms of his physical conditioning than he had in previous fights. He still carried his power even when exhausted in the fifth round, and was considerably leaner than he’d been in a long time. That’s a positive to take away from the fight. Where Price looked bad is when he backed up against the ropes, and allowed Ali to tee off on him in the fifth round. That was a strange move by Price, and it almost cost him the fight. With the kind of experience Price has, he should know better than to cover up on the ropes. He should have stayed in the center of the ring, and used his height and reach to keep the shorter man on the outside. Price’s conditioning wasn’t there at the end of the fight. His power was still there but he was completely exhausted, even though he had fought at a slow pace the entire fight. Price shouldn’t have been this tired looking. Price probably could have knocked Ali out in the first round if he’d put him under a sustained attack and thrown a lot of heavy shots. Instead of doing that, Price threw a lot of single shots, and one-two combinations that allowed a far less talented fighter than himself to stay in there with him until the fifth round. Price fought like he was afraid to gas out for the entire fight. That’s troubling, because he’s got to be able to fight hard in order to win his fights against the better guys. Ali isn’t a top notch fighter, and this should have been an easy win for Price if he had the conditioning, and if he’d stayed in the center of the ring.