Ever since Lennox Lewis retired way back in 2004, Great Britain has watched in anticipation, waiting for our next great Heavyweight to arrive. Lewis, an Olympic gold medalist in Seoul 1988 went onto achieve greatness worldwide, and retire as the most recent undisputed heavyweight champion.
Since then, the conveyor belt of top tier heavyweights from the UK shores has flattered to deceive to say the least; with Danny Williams achieving moderate success and even challenging Vitali Klitschko for gold, before being stopped in the eighth round.
Then there was Derek Chisora, a younger Heavyweight; who after showing much promise was heavily outpointed at the final hurdle, again by Vitali.
Perhaps the most famous fighter of UK descent to make an impact on the Heavyweight division in recent years has been David Haye. Haye was a natural cruiserweight who exploded onto the big men’s scene by doing a smash and grab job on Nikolai Valuev, for the WBA Heavyweight title.
Haye went onto defeat John Ruiz and Audley Harrison (a former Olympic gold medalist) before being heavily outpointed by Wladimir Klitschko.
The common denominator was always the same, good, but not quite good enough for the Ultimate Prize. Now, however, there is a ‘Great White Hope’ so to speak, rising from the streets of Liverpool in the form of Olympic Bronze Medalist David Price.
With a pro record of 15-0, with 13 by way of knockout, it was quickly apparent that the Merseysider has bricks in his gloves. However, up until October 2012, his fight record looked like a ‘who’s that?’ Rather than a ‘who’s who’.
In October 12th of last year, Price truly arrived, standing at 6’8 and with all the natural tools a heavyweight could ask for; reach, power, ect. He faced off against Audley Harrison, a man looking to get his own career back on track.
Price was having none of it, and Harrison was stopped abruptly in the first round. After defeating veteran Matt Skelton with ease at the end of Nov, Price now at 29, faces his first real acid test.
Washington’s own Tony Thompson, a man who, at 41 has experience on his side,39 pro fights under his belt and the distinction of having only been stopped twice in his career, by ,guess who? Wladimir Klitschko.
This war will take place on Feb 23 at Liverpool’s Echo Arena in front of 12,000 frenzied fans.
Whenever Price fights there is excitement, expectation, and the hope that the British Boxing Fans will finally have a heavyweight to finally call ‘Champion’ once again.
The American, known as Tony the Tiger, is more weathered, experienced, and has fought better opposition than his younger opponent.
The Hometown hero is currently ranked no 9 by the WBC, and has so far, ruthlessly swept all before him. Frank Maloney (Prices Promoter) and the entire UK population will watch with baited breath to see if the man known as ‘Big’ can make one more big step towards the ultimate prize, a showdown with one of the Klitschkos.
