David Price: Too much Heart, not enough Head?

Following his shock loss this weekend I read Price saying that the reason he lost was down to his fighting heart. Does he have a point? I think he was lacking stamina but when he knocked his opponent down he used up too much energy trying to finish him off and his heart got the better of his head. He wsnt knocked down once in the fight but the referee seemed to stop it because Price was tired more than anything else. I think he needs to go back to the gym and improve his fitness and learn to think in the ring a bit better and I think there is every chance he could come back and be a major contender in the division. He has the power, size and style to knock the Klitschkos out but he doesnt have the stamina or the experience yet. The Klitschkos are used to fighting long fights and tiring their opponents out with a very negatively cautious style so if Price didnt knock them out in the first few rounds then I think he would tire again. I think the Klitschkos could recognise this now and they might offer him a match now because they know they can beat him. I would not write Price off for the future because if he can improve his stamina and get more experience then he could still be a big contender in the future. I think Fury and Wilder will be very tough for him to beat now though.

winchester wrote:Following his shock loss this weekend I read Price saying that the reason he lost was down to his fighting heart. Does he have a point? I think he was lacking stamina but when he knocked his opponent down he used up too much energy trying to finish him off and his heart got the better of his head. He wsnt knocked down once in the fight but the referee seemed to stop it because Price was tired more than anything else. I think he needs to go back to the gym and improve his fitness and learn to think in the ring a bit better and I think there is every chance he could come back and be a major contender in the division. He has the power, size and style to knock the Klitschkos out but he doesnt have the stamina or the experience yet. The Klitschkos are used to fighting long fights and tiring their opponents out with a very negatively cautious style so if Price didnt knock them out in the first few rounds then I think he would tire again. I think the Klitschkos could recognise this now and they might offer him a match now because they know they can beat him. I would not write Price off for the future because if he can improve his stamina and get more experience then he could still be a big contender in the future. I think Fury and Wilder will be very tough for him to beat now though.

A good attempt at an article mate, glad to see you're trying!

Disagree with a few points, mainly his style being able to beat the Klitschko's. Think he'd get eaten alive with his one punch bomb approach against either brother, Wlad is too clever and Vitali is made of iron. Dunno where you've got the info that the Klitschko's fight long fights, only 4 fights in Wlads last 17 have gone to decision and generally its all over by round 6/7.

Price hasn't earnt a shot at the Klitchko's - neither has Fury. Neither are mandatory, and neither have made enough waves with their resumes to warrant it.

Unfortunately very few have - I don't see why Wlad would come and offer Price a shot seeing as he was beaten by someone he beat convincingly.

Eh? I read Tyson fury state that Price had no heart but not hear it from Price himself. Why would anyone ever admit that?! Klitschkos would beat Price, Wilder and Fury anyway so that's a given. They wont fight them at the moment though for a few reasons:

wilder - untested at top level. Not fought anyone remotely good hence why he is knocking them all out. Currently being investigated for assault.

price - only 17 fights or something and again like wilder has beaten domestic opposition and looked great in doing so. Stepped up to the next level and got beaten twice by a fighter who in turn has lost twice to wlad by knockout. Needs a domestic fight again before even getting close to European level let alone Klitshcko level.

fury - ducked price last year, pulled out of a Pulev match as well. Struggled against Cunningham and Mcdermott and is wasting around with this Haye fiasco. He has openly admitted he wont fight either klitschko because apparently HE is the man?

why would Klitshckos fight any of the above when Wladamir is about to fight Povetkin, who is the highest ranked contender.

I'd say his loss was more down to a lack of fighting heart.

He visibly shrank and backed away every time TT landed. The high guard, leant over, trying to turn his back approach to defensive boxing does not say to me that he has too much heart.

Good OP Winchester.

I think Price has shades of Khan about him (albeit considerably less talented) as he can't seem to avoid getting in a scrap and doesn't react to well to getting tagged (even Amir covers up better than Price did Saturday). He also has the similarity that he should be able to work well behind a jab (Khan's being one of speed, Price's of power) but fails to take advantage of this. His jab should be keeping people out of range of his chin but it was next to useless Saturday.

His problem, in comparison to Khan, is Khan is still young and has been operating at world level for a number of years now whereas Price is old and hasn't even got there yet.

Very true tophat. He should use that jab like a spear such as Lewis did or even as wladamir does now. Brutal.

he has very good power and did hurt Thompson in round 2.

if he worked on his stamina and technical flaws he may challenge for a title.

but being 31, i find it unlikely him winning one.

He fought like a novice, but as TH said, he's an old novice, and you know what they say about old dogs...If he wanted a better pro career he should have turned over when he was younger. I think that if you stay amateur for too long the switch is even harder.

Id struggle to find too many positives from that fight. It was a disaster for Price. For starters its a massive mental and psycholgical blow he has to deal with. Even before you can address the technical and conditioning aspects it will be a challenge to get his confiedence back. He didnt handle the pressure of the occassion at all and it appears he wasnt confident going into the rematch. Its going to be very tough to get him right mentally I think. Theres no chance of him taking him a fight with a Klitschko. He wouldnt make it out of the dressing room.

I think the tension and pressure Price was under brought out the worst in his performance. He didnt appear to have any real structure to his boxing but I think more than anything the occassion got to him. Thompson fought a good plan for the most part and I think he correctly guessed that Price would be mentally vunerable so he fought an aggressive fight rather than letting Price settle. Prices fundementals looked generally poor and I think he lacks a fighters intinct but I also think the fought below par.

Winhester I still don't get how you think The klitschkos are ducking the top guys in the division. Wlad is fighting povetkin who is top 4 HW in the world, he beat the number 3 HW in the world in Haye in 2011. Vitali is due to fight stirvene who is a very dangerous opponent. Yes they have had some soft defences but they always fight the top guys out there.

Demanding that wlad fights price, fury and wilder which is what winchester is doing is just nonsense. Price was untested and the moment he stepped up he got Ko'd twice by a 42 year old thompson.

Wilder's best win is audley harrisson, he is no way near ready and he really needs to step up.

Fury seems to be about 3/4 fights away from being ready. His best win is against a past it Cruiserweight and he still got knocked down by that past it cruiserweight.

When Price was on the ropes at the end being hit it was like an Audley Harrison impression when he fought Haye. I was in stitches laughing!!

Got to think Haye-Price would be a massacre on an almost Audley scale!

TopHat24/7 wrote:Got to think Haye-Price would be a massacre on an almost Audley scale!

Well according to Winchester before Saturday, Price, Fury and Wilder were the 3 best HW boxers in the world.

Price showed zero footwork, zero jab, zero boxing ability. Youcan say he didn't snap his jab or whatever. Well it takes talent to do that. Something he lacks. Great puncher but that's not enough.

He would make a good analyst for boxnation or some other obscure channel where I don't have to hear that whiney scouse accent. Nice guy by all accounts.

To be honest, I just think that Price's performance on Saturday was truly disappointing in just about all aspects - and I'm including this supposed 'fighting heart' in that. Having watched the fight back a couple of days later, I can't shake the feeling that, although he never left his feet, he'd mentally checked out of the fight before the referee waved it off.

Once Thompson survived the early onslaught you could virtually see Price shrinking and everything draining out of him. His stamina declined in a flash, he couldn't buy himself any of the room he needed to work in and get his shots off, and he looked completely lost once Thompson started coming on strong. All of this points to a terribly fragile mindset and a shocking lack of confidence, which all told can easily be a bigger and more problematic shortcoming than any physical deficiencies!

I guess it's Price's mindset which worries me more than anything. Two successive stoppage defeats on the spin is trouble enough for any Heavyweight contender, but in Price's case the world really has come crashing down around him because he in particular has received a lot of attention and has been hailed in some quarters as THE one to watch amongst the chasing pack. Great for him in one sense, but it doesn't half set you up for a fall, too, and makes it that much more shocking and potentially damaging when it happens.

As long as a fighter is ready and willing then there's always a chance of recovering from these kind of setbacks, even if they are severe ones; look at Wladimir, for instance. I think Price is better than Saturday's performance suggests, no doubt about it, but ultimately those kind of excuses matter for little and right now I'd have serious doubts about whether he'll ever be able to overcome the mental anguish these two defeats will have caused.

Once that belief goes, it's a long ol' road back.

Wlad always had brilliant fundermentals. The same cannot be said of Price. Very average in all departments except punch power.

He would still clock Fury though lets be honest AZ.

Wlad is in another universe. Fury isn't even the best boxer in England. I'd like him to flatten Haye but it won't happen.

No head was his biggest problem, questionable heart at the end although he looked like a rabbit in the headlights by that stage. Seems to lose all his senses when plugged with a good punch. Took a Bruno style beating when he should have taken a knee.

Price's problem was wholly down to the fact he can't defend a punch. He never learned to when knocking everyone out. Nor has he learned to hold when in bother.

Thompson landed an inordinate amount of clean punches.

I know it is silly to call a boxer soft, but in relative terms couldn't it just be that Price is a bit 'soft' and can't really handle the pain required to be a world level boxer.

He took his lumps. He just shipped too many punches.

All those 1 round fights he had, then taking about 5 months to fight again has cost him dearly.

Maloney as a promoter should have had him on cards every month the way he was ending fights so early. But the annoying little midget thought he knew how to handle Price, just like his other recent fighters, and it all blew up in his face. His stable makes Mick Hennessy's look like Golden Boy.

And now he is trying to blame Lennox for Price's defeat...the little squirt should crawl under the little rock where he belongs, British Boxing is fine without him.

Price showed an uncanny characteristic of Audley Harrison on Saturday. Afraid to engage, get hit. Turning away.

It was a bit embarrasing. Its always fun to watch a big lump get beat up so Im looking forward to seeing Price get another few hidings

He could have fought every week and it wouldn't have made a difference.  The basics are simply not good enough.  Uk level at best.

Mrs Thompson is probably in need of a hip replacement though.

I heard Mrs Thompson wasnt home so he broke Truss's hip after a fit of passion at the Oyster.

price really looked nervous, and it seemed to affect him, he stopped throwing when the punches came his way, which is suicide, and as someone mentioned didn't have the sense to take a knee. the ref helped him by giving him a count without him going down, and price gave up, he was staring at the ground, at the ceiling everywhere but the ref, and didn't look like he wanted to continue. it was a disappointing performance, and unless he comes back with a vengeance and fights more often i don't think he has the time to make a run for the top.

if he does come back, which he has stated he will he should look to opponents like chisora, helenius, charr, dimentrko and possibly somebody like kevin johnson to build his confidence back and find his style, and if he can build with lewis or somebody like that in the gym that would help, as his preparation must have been terrible, as the game plan was completely wrong.

For a comeback fight Id rate guys like Chisora, Helenius, Charr etc as too dangerous. He could do with one of those very durable journeymen like Zach Page who can give a good workout and wont cave in.

He needs rounds, desperately. Preferably against someone unlikely to punch back much - Kevin Johnson, for example.

I wouldn't match him against guys fury has destroyed. Fury hss destroyed more careers than David Cameron.

Kevin Johnson would also be too dangerous. Charr and Helenius would end his career at this stage.

I don't see why Chisora would be a good opponent for Price. More a nightmare in my eyes.
Keep him away from anyone durable who can go 12 rounds for a few fights. Maybe go back to 8 rounders for the time being.

i think he would do well against helenus, and beat a undefeated fighter in the process. he needs to keep up appearences at least, if his next fight was a journeyman he would become nothing but a side note,

Helenus being undefeated is a joke. Chis slapped him and got jobbed. Price should rematch a fit and prepared Dallas. That is his level.

I think the last thing price needs is another tough high pressure fight. He needs to step down a couple of levels and rebuild his confidence. On the basis of his fights with thompson, any top 20 heavyweight could potentially beat him. And with his confidence in tatters and his career in a mess he cant afford to take that risk.

The problem i have with this OP is that it is still about how horrible the K bros are, even to the point where it is stating that they will fight Price next because they think he is easy. I am no great fan of the brothers, but still recognise that they are simply head and shoulders above everyone else right now. The only person to have beaten Wlad's last three opponents is Wlad and his next fight is against the person most rankings have as number 4 in the world. This is not some one looking for easy options. There is no evidence to back up such a claim, so why make it? I stated several times that Price had to fight and win against a couple of top ten heavies to be seriously in contention. Now we know that he definitely isn't there ye, and probably never will be, and he has to decide whether he wants to earn a living as a Euro level fighter at best or do something else. Let's hope he does what is best for himself.