I suspect not many will own up, but back in the day a lot were sold on Price It's important to remember he came in at a time Wlad was criticized for fighting small "fat guys" and price was 6'7" and looked in physically decent shape, he was proper icing people too, at a low level but his power was obviously real.
I will admit that I swallowed the kool aid. I think obviously I rated a couple of his earlier opponents more highly than I should have. As you say though, he didn't seem to suffer as badly from his stamina issues, early on. I guess his chin wasn't tested until Tony Thompson also!
I think Price is like the ultimate example of a confidence fighter, early in his career he probably bought his own hype and took risks he won't now, also his opponents until Thompson were scared of him. I think Wilder is about to experience a higher level version of that tbh, after Fury does him again he will have that bit of doubt, and previously hopeless opponents will feel emboldened to have a go at him
I was never a believer, the way he was stopped in the Olympics in 2008 was an indication he didn’t have the chin to be a top dog in the pro ranks.
Most Brits on fight forums were believers in "The British Wlad" at that time. Easily led. It's one thing to have failed to perceive the skill and versatility differentials between Price and Fury at the time, but they even ignored reason when we said that knocking guys over quicker than Fury might not actually be as good for Price as getting rounds in and overcoming some adversity or a gut check. Some of us said he'd be screwed as soon as he stepped up past domestic level. If betting apps would allow us to access wagers older than 2-3 years, I'd revisit my winning slips for Thompson X2, Teper and Hammer, four occasions on which he was an overdog and came up short (not counting Kuzmin, a bout I paid no attention to). What a bust this Price guy was. I stopped getting a kick out of his defeats after Hammer (a guy Fury beat with one hand behind his back). [url]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DZdBBZ1XUAAj8mk.jpg[/url] This content is protected Poor fella.
I think my general dislike for Fury helped me buy into the Price hype at the time. Really wanted him to knock fury the **** out. Quite funny now in hindsight haha. The manor of his defeats by Thompson killed all that. You could see the fear in Price, he was so tense. He will always get love from me for shutting down the Dave Allen hype train. That was the night mega casuals realised what the meaning of levels were in boxing.
I was sold him picking up a version of a world strap at some point. But didn’t think he would be undisputed or the best in the division. Remembering back to the discussion before the Thompson fight and 95% of people were sold on him blowing Thompson out. Once he lost his 0. He was never ever the same fighter again. In retrospect he should have retired after that first loss as his mind was never the same again. All of us knew when he was laid flat out by Teper by a grazing shot that didn’t even land clean, that it was the end of his career.
The comical nature of his defeats to underdogs was entertaining, and he's responsible for one of my very favorite pieces of commentary – "He's absolutely knackered!" , but I do feel genuinely bad for Price. Though I wanted to see the truth out, I wouldn't have wished things to go as badly for him as they did. It's hard to see how things could've gone much better, though. He just wasn't very promising past domestic level.
I think the only brief fleeting moment I thought of him as being a contender, was when he demolished Fraudley Then i remembered it was Fraudley
Morning Gents, Long time lurker first time poster. I wasn't a believer no. I always felt that the scousers bigged Pricey up due to the fact that Manchester had many world champions and just class fighters in general, and because of the rivalry between the two great cities, they were desperate for a scouse boxing hero. Too stiff and rather uncharismatic.
Yes thought he hit like a mule and with the height I honestly thought he’d do it. Him and Audley made me wake up to the fact of how important a chin and cardio is at all weights, even more so than ability.
I wasn't sold on him as an amateur. There were a couple of key flaws (speed and punch resistance) that were always going to be problematic in the pro ranks. He obviously had an upright amateur style, but that could be worked on with the right training. Generally though, speed is speed and a chin is a chin; they don't dramatically improve over time. It was difficult to get past the manner of the Cammarelle loss, where the Italian got inside so easily and was able to tee off. That said, stock is volatile in the heavyweight division and his 2012 was really impressive - quick demolition jobs on Sexton, Harrison and Skelton. The Sexton win was eye-opening; he was a tough guy and Price bombed him out of there. With that kind of power, Price looked like he was going to be a player in the division, and the losses to Stiverne and Cammarelle were becoming a distant memory. Maybe not the Man, but a kind of Bruno-esque career where he may get hold of a world title at some point. It was a big shock that he lost to Thompson; while there may have been questions over Price's durability it was still a surprise for him to get one-shotted by Thompson in the first fight, and then be keeling over with exhaustion before the halfway point in the rematch.