The Olympians progress so far Part 1

David Price
Heavyweight
7-0 (5KO's)
Frank Maloney Promotions

Price was the last of the 6 Olympians to turn pro, making his debut with Hayemaker promotions. There setanta deal fell though which left Price without a fight for 6 months until he signed up with with Frank Maloney. Unfortunatley his progress has been extremly slow, he has been getting fights, but agaisnt soft eastern european opposition. His first opponent Dave Ingleby and well known journeyman have been his toughest opponents so far.

In the new season everyone would like to see a step up in class, with him going up against some domestic opponents that show up to win. He should be looking to fight 3 times. I would currently rank him 10th in line for a British title.


Tony Jeffires
Light Heavyweight
7-0-1 (5KO's)
Frank Maloney Promotions

Jeffries is another who took a while to make his debut due to promotional problems, initially signing with Dennis Hobson who failed to provide a TV deal. He like Price moved over to Frank Maloney, who has done a good job in pushing Jeffries in his home town of Sunderland where he is a big ticket seller.

He has been fighting reguarly, and with 8 fights he has been boxed more than any of the other Olympians, however he has failed to impress since his early fights. Many feel he is to eager to impress his legion of fans, other feel he should have stuck with origional trainer Joe Gallagher. In his last fight he drew with Michael Banbula in a controversial fight where Jeffries thought it was a 6 rounder, only for the ref to contuinue the fight after the 6th for 2 more rounds. The draw was disapointing, although its worth pointing out Banbula is the probably the the best opponent faced by one of the 6 pro olympians.

In the new season, he should probably fit in a warm up fight and then rematch Banbula to settle the score over 8 rounds (known in advance). I would currently rank him 8th in line for a British title fight.


James DeGale
Super Middleweight
7-0 (5KO's)
Frank Warren Promotions

Gold medal winner James DeGale has stried up a fair bit of controversy since turning pro. He was booed by the crowd at his first few fights, and he has got on the wrong side of allot of hardcore fans with his attitude.

DeGale was always going to recieve tough love from the hardcore fans, and the role of villan seems to be sitting well with him. In the ring, he has performed, all be it agaisnt poor opposition. His first fight wasn't great, but since then he has been improving with every bout and stopping opponents he is supposed to stop picking up a minor title on route, although he has not been active enough due to promoter Frank Warrens TV issues.

His next fight is a british title eliminator agaisnt Carl Dilks, a decent step up. From there a British title in 2010 is a real possibily and will be quite an achievment after 9-10 fights. I currently rank him 7th in line for a British title, he will jump up a few places if he beats Dilks in style.

 

All mine