I was Britain’s brightest prospect, beat Tyson Fury, scored 25 KOs, and now insulate homes with renewable energy

David Price quickly emerged as British boxing’s top prospect, despite just claiming bronze at the Beijing 2008 Olympics when James DeGale won gold.

When he turned professional in 2009, Price did so under Hayemaker Promotions, the promotional organisation of David Haye and the respected Adam Booth.

Matchroom

Haye was succeeding Ricky Hatton as British boxing’s leading figure and Booth was establishing himself as one of Britain’s finest trainers; by London 2012, however, Price was being promoted by Frank Maloney and trained by Franny Smith.

As an amateur in 2006 Price recovered from a second-round knockdown to outpoint none other than Tyson Fury.

Fury was already making an impression as a professional, and Maloney – once influential in the career of the great Lennox Lewis and convinced by Price’s potential – was one of the many aware of the value of that victory to Price’s reputation and in pursuing a rematch between them as professionals.

Fury had already struggled against John McDermott when in early 2012 Price stopped McDermott inside a round to win the vacant English heavyweight title previously held by Fury.

He then proceeded to win the vacant British and Commonwealth titles in four rounds against Sam Sexton, and before the end of the year stopped Audley Harrison and Matt Skelton inside one and then two rounds as his momentum increasingly built.

At the conclusion of the victory over Skelton, and partly owing to Maloney agreeing to promote Price on the recently formed BoxNation after the conclusion of his broadcast agreement with Sky Sports, there was an expectation that Price-Derek Chisora would follow.

Instead, in a post-fight press conference, Maloney surprised those in attendance when he revealed that Tony Thompson, the American southpaw and former world title challenger, would be next.

If Thompson represented a surprise and risky nature of opponent – Chisora, then in his prime, would also have represented a risk but his profile in the UK would have guaranteed a bigger fight – Maloney’s history with Lewis meant that he was considered a sound judge of guiding a heavyweight, and that him matching Price with Thompson could be expected to prove a shrewd move.

AFP

When they then fought in February 2013, Price appeared in the ascendency when Thompson threw a counter right hand that perforated his eardrum, robbed him of his balance, and ensured a shock finish in the second round.

That shock and the stress of witnessing defeat for his leading prospect – and without the security of the backing of Sky Sports, Maloney Promotions was increasingly reliant on Price’s success – meant Maloney leaving Liverpool’s Echo Arena on a stretcher, being given oxygen, and needing treatment from paramedics.

“I didn’t take a beating in there, it was one of those shots, it caught my ear and my balance had gone,” Price said, post-fight. “Sometimes it’s best to come back as quickly as possible.”

Less than five months later and on the occasion of his 30th birthday he was again stood opposite Thompson, and at the very same venue. In an attempt to enhance his preparations he had also worked under Lewis, who, similarly to when he trained under the great Emanuel Steward, challenged Price at chess, but unlike Steward had minimal experience.

When Price dropped Thompson in the second round he appeared on course for victory and to prove Maloney right in insisting that his previous defeat had been a “freak”. The 41-year-old Thompson instead impressively recovered from being hurt by one of the world’s most powerful punchers to hurt Price in the fourth and stop him in the fifth.

Price’s reputation – he had been seen as the favourite in a potential fight with Fury – and confidence, second time around, were significantly undermined. His contract with Maloney had expired, but Maloney, Frank Warren, Matchroom and Sauerland Promotions regardless attempted to sign him, and it was the latter he surprisingly chose, and under whose guidance he started to rebuild.

There were periods training under Booth and America’s Tommy Brooks, and three victories before it was revealed, a year after Price’s career trajectory had been transformed, that Thompson had failed a drugs test for their second fight. A further victory followed, and then a further defeat via stoppage – this time in two rounds by Germany’s Erkan Teper in a fight for the European heavyweight title. Teper was duly suspended after he, too, failed a drugs test, post-fight.

Price again rebuilt, this time under Dave Coldwell and alongside his friend Tony Bellew and then later Joe McNally, who guided him to a victory over Kamil Sokolowski that led to the fight with Alexander Povetkin in 2018 to determine who would fight Anthony Joshua next. He was knocked down in the third, the round in which he also hurt Povetkin sufficiently that the Russian took a count, and against his finest opponent was stopped in five.

Getty Images – Getty

After rebuilding again, a run of three victories led to him being matched with Chisora, whose pressure overwhelmed him inside four rounds in what proved Price’s final fight. In retirement he will recognise that he lost something that was never recovered over the course of those defeats by Thompson, and was never again the same. 

If a fight with Fury may also once have transformed his career, they have become friends, and to the extent that when one of Fury’s children was in hospital in Liverpool, Price visited his one-time rival and joined him for a run in a local park. As a retired fighter Price, previously a central heating engineer, instead focuses on Outlook Energy Solutions, and therefore installing solar panels and insulations, and working with renewable energies.

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