Tonight in London in the chief support to the Eubank-Quinlan IBO super-middleweight title fight, Germany’s Christian Hammer stopped an exhausted David Price in the 7th-round of an exciting heavyweight battle. Price, in a must-win fight, had huge success early on, dropping Hammer and hurting him a number of times, but he simply ran out of gas and wilted when a determined Hammer showed he was tough enough to stick around.
The end came at the 1:20-second mark of the 7th, when Price, stuck on the ropes, open-mouthed and taking shots, forced the referee to dive in and halt the fight. Price, in losing for the fourth time, all by stoppage, is now 21-4(18). Hammer, in scoring one of the biggest wins of his career, is now 21-4(12).
Price began the fight well, if somewhat cautiously. Coming in at a hefty, career-high 279-pounds, the big Brit jabbed well – when he actually had the confidence to use his left jab – and he caught the smaller Hammer quite frequently with power punches. Hammer snarled defiance but he was hurt when the two traded shots.
By the 4th Price was already looking tired, perhaps due to his expending plenty of nervous energy. A slugfest at times, the action was good to watch. In the 5th, Hammer was well on top, or so it appeared, until Price dropped his man with a huge right uppercut. A very dramatic round of action.
The two slugged it out in the 6th, with Hammer hurt by another big uppercut. Price was now looking all gone gas tank-wise and Hammer smelled blood. Hammer threw everything he had at Price in the 7th, forcing the third man’s intervention. Price looked utterly devastated at the end, knowing, as we all do, that his career at anything approaching top level has come to an end.
Hammer took Price’s heart tonight, and probably earned himself another, bigger fight in the process. It’s tough not to have plenty of sympathy for Price, but he really does have nowhere to go now but into retirement.
Hammer retained his WBO European title with the win.
