David Price or Moses Itauma

Price also beat Fury in the amateurs and flattened Joshua in sparring. There was plenty to like about him. There was a lot of hype, but his chin was always suspect. It was shown to be the case in the amateurs with the headguard on, so I never thought he would get to world level. I did think he would get to Euro-level, though, and maybe win the EBU, but I was wrong about that, too.

Wlad was chinny, so I think the idea was that Price could play to his jab and his right hand in a similar fashion, and if he could actually keep his chin out of the firing line, then he could've gone down the Wlad route in the same fashion, but obviously he was nowhere near Wlad's level of ability and his chin was one of the worst we've seen at HW for quite some time.

I will say one thing about Price, though. I've met him a couple of times, and he is a great fella. He knows the sport and is one of the most genuine ex-pros there is in Britain. He also has the Lonsdale Belt and an Olympic medal, not a bad haul. He should really be getting the TV analysts' spots that Bellew gets, because he's far more insightful and isn't a colossal, egotistical gobshite.

 

Price needs to be very thankful he lost to Thompson because his next fight had he won was going to be Wlad and it would have been brutal KO. Thompson was feather fisted and put a demolition job on him Wlad would have massacred Price.

 

Whilst I didn't think he would de throne the Klitchko's I thought he would become the main challenger to them. Much more so than Fury. Pretty skilled and very heavy handed.

Who would have known he'd have both hamster lungs and glass chin.

 

He IS/WAS indeed a very genuine and honest down to earth bloke.
I can remember in some interview ages ago, before the Thompson fights but still when he was on the crest of his wave at the time.
He was asked, then, in the interview, would he jump at the chance of a title bout with Wlad? . He said no...he didn't think he was ready for that at that particular time..and some pundit, rightly or wrongly, criticised that after the interview..( I think it may have been B McGuigan, not sure) Saying any fighter worth his salt should absolutely jump at the chance of a title shot. And that he lacked self belief.

Not too many fighters now would be as honest as Price was at that stage of their career. . Most would blag it and just say yes, they could and would even if they felt the same as Pricey.

 

I think the British boxing public were more desperate for a HW champion back then. So the hype for Price was a bit bigger. Also it kind of happened towards the end of the TV era/beginning of social media era so the hype was a bit different.

 

I'm pretty certain he would have been happier after being chinned against Blade rather than TT with the difference in pay days

 

Its why I’m wary of Itauma still as Itauma’s chin and stamina has not been tested.

David Price was awarded ESPN’s prospect of the year too. But, like Itauma now, Price’s chin and stamina had not been tested yet by the time he won POTY. Also, Price even past his prime was actually pretty good offensively.

And thus David Price basically became a hype job after his chin and stamina was eventually tested.

 

The hype for 'moses' is way more out of control.

Price was actually an Olympic medallist.

In hindsight people pretend Price was overhyped but look at it. He was 6'7-ish, massive puncher, good skills and was destroying people. He deserved the hype.

His main downfall was his engine. The chin gets talked about but he could take more damage than people claim, it's just once he gassed he got overrun. This is seen in Thompson 2 and Hammer. So this issue wasn't clear when he was winning early and it's understandable people didn't realise it, also because in the early days he came in lean and looked very fit. Even in the Thompson 2 fight he decked Thompson early and if he'd finished him the endurance problem would have been concealed for longer.

 

When people came up with the term glass cannon it was meant for Price.

The man had hamster lungs and bone china chin above British level. But he had world class punching power.

It’s almost as if when designing a boxer in a computer game someone maxed out the power and height statistics. Yet they gave other important attributes only 2-3 points out of 20.

By the way let’s not re-write history here. Out of the 30 or so posters on the British forum only 1 was negative about Price. Everyone thought he would have chinned Fury.

People aren’t answering this poll honestly either. Just go back and look at the posts from before the TT fight.

 

Yes and let’s not forget that during this time period Fury came into the ring off a bender and lost a UD to John McDermott. Therefore it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that a way better fighter in Price would have done him.