David Price's long and winding road to being 'Ready'

Yup.

 

He was due to fight Fury last year, signed then withdrew as he believed he didn't have enough time to prepare himself properly for the fight. He was right, Fury would beat him.

Agree.

 

I wouldn't be so sure, if Vitali does retire then Fury is mandatory to fight the winner of Arreola vs Stiverne for the title.

 

I sense genuine fear on the streets of Liverpool, when the name David Price is mentioned.

I was speaking to some lad, about David Price.

And he just said...

"Listen David Price is hard, he's hard!"...

Random people keep telling me about reported sightings of him, in restaurants or training.

And all of them seem overwhelmed by his energy.

Still i think Tyson Fury is at the moment! Shown he is the better overall fighter.

 

Despite the few HWs padding a record and hoping for a shot at a title, I don't think it is as bad as we make out. From a fan's perspective, we can be impatient and want a fast progression because of the huge amount of 'airtime' that even the most irrelevant fighters get these days due to the internet and it's wide reaching forms of communication.

When I used to watch boxing pre-internet, I saw a much smaller percentage of fights, especially if the boxer in question didn't have a decent TV deal. Most of the hype started building up when they were actually going to challenge for some sort of title, at least that's how I remember it. It may be different if you had numerous sport channel subscriptions (I didn't). I'm not even old, but I remember flipping to the inside back page of the Sunday paper to see if there was any boxing news, and reading teletext (harhar!), because I didn't know of any other way to get the latest info (I don't even think the local paper shop carried any boxing magazines).

These days you can find lists of upcoming boxers in seconds with a quick google search, you can get a good idea of the quality of their opposition with a bit of boxrec-warrioring, and then you can get on ESB and argue about it all day.

Where's my pipe and flat cap?

 

Also, from a purely practical perspective, the perfect scenario for Price is to time it so that he has developed enough, and the Klitschko's have declined enough, that he can take the title (not really best for the fans!). Wlad could have been on course to do exactly that when Lewis was still around. He was 40-1 going into the Sanders fight, holding the WBO belt, and Lewis was had just defeated old Tyson. Lewis recognized, post-Vitali fight, that the transition was coming, as it always does, and made an exit. Funnily enough, I could see the same thing happening to Price, winning a minor belt, getting into position to challenge a fading champion, and then losing to someone else by unexpected KO.

 

Good post :good

 

Some of you lot are incredibly impatient. The only reason people want Price to step up quickly is due to the lack of credible challengers in the heavyweight division. Price has had 15 fights ffs, he maybe 29 but Wlad is still going strong at 36 so why not take another year to get some rounds in and challenge guys that are a level or two above Audley and Skelton.

In those 5 fights Price could even get himself into a mandatory position meaning he'll get a tidy purse without options when he gets his chance.

Similar thing with Tyson Fury, people acting like he needs to be fighting for world titles this year. Nonsense. Wlad turned pro at a similar age to Fury plus had much more of an amateur background and was 34-1 when he fought for a title. 35 fights into his career! There'd be outrage on here if Fury got to 30 fights without challenging for a title.

 

That is all just conjecture. He had four fights last year, all of which were of a considerably better standarf than those he'd had before. Now, he's making an even bigger step up in Thompson so apart from fighting one more Brit to get the Lonsdale outright, it's too be expected that his opposition will carry on getting better.

Exactly, it's an attitude that really makes me laugh. The same people criticising in this instance also tend to be the ones who go mad at Cleverly for his sub standard defences, which have come about from him being rushed into a title shot without proper tests beforehand.

 

You mentioned Matchroom/Sky before and they took 7 fights and two years with Kell Brook before getting him a title fight. And Brook was much more further along as a pro than Price is now.

25 fights before a world title fight is not unreasonable at all. One thing to remember is every fighter is different and progresses at a different rate. You get the occasional phenom that is read after around 15 fights.

Another thing to remember with Price is there's no weak titlist to pick up a title from. In previous eras you could aim for a weak WBO champ, get some defences in and then look for a unification bout against the top man in the division.

And surely you'd rather see fully fully developed fighters that have learnt their trade before going into title fights rather than getting stuck in at the deep end having never faced such a situation before. You don't go from Audley, Skelton and Sexton to Wlad.

 

David Price has point to prove in 2013

British boxer David Price says he will use his fight against American Tony Thompson to "prove he belongs at the top level".
The 29-year-old British and Commonwealth holder, who will face Thompson on 23 February in Liverpool, believes 2013 can be a "monumental year" as he looks towards a world heavyweight title challenge.

Price also discusses a potential bout against fellow Briton Tyson Fury, saying if a date can be agreed it would be "the biggest British fight in decades".

Video...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/20951821

 

He has all the charisma of a brick,nodded off listening to him there lol