Former British heavyweight champion David Price has named the most satisfying victory of his 32-fight professional career.
Once seen as a fierce rival to Tyson Fury, Price blew opponents away after turning over to the pro scene following a stellar amateur career where he picked up the gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the bronze at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
After claiming the British and Commonwealth titles by knocking out Sam Sexton, and then making two defences, Price met his match in Tony Thompson, who famously derailed plans to compete for world honours.
Price never reached the heights that his amateur pedigree suggested he may, and speaking to Boxing News, he revealed that his final career victory, against Dave Allen in 2019, was ‘the most satisfying of his career’ for a number of reasons.
“Dave Allen was always trying to get a fight with me when he was just starting to make a name for himself and I had no interest in it. There was nothing to gain from fighting Dave Allen, so I was never kind of biting or reacting to him.
“Then, I bumped into him in Nando’s when I was training with Dave Coldwell up in Rotherham. He was kind of apologetic and explaining why he had been doing it all, so we squashed it there and then. It was like an ‘OK, don’t do it again’, kind of thing, then two weeks later it started again.”
“He was just a bit odd. In the build-up to the fight, I thought, ‘I will go along with being pally’, but really I wanted to f**k him up – and I did, which is why it was so satisfying. That win was a really, really satisfying win, I could have retired after that fight, happily.
“It gave me that much of a satisfaction that I thought ‘I can leave boxing happy now’.”
“I’d say so [it was the most satisfying win of my career], because I was getting written off by everyone.”
When the two British heavyweights met in 2019, Price produced a fine display to break Allen down, causing a cut that hampered the Doncaster man’s vision and caused trainer Darren Barker to pull him out in the tenth.
After the win, Price returned to the very same O2 Arena just three months later in a clash against Derek Chisora, but the Liverpudlian was halted after four rounds of action, in what proved to be his career finale.
