Promoter Frank Maloney thinks his fighter heavyweight David Price (15-1, 13 KO’s) has completely learned his lesson from his 2nd round TKO defeat at the hands of Tony Thompson (37-3, 25 KO’s) from last February, and he’s convinced that Price will beat him tonight to avenge that loss at the Echo Arena in London, UK. Maloney and Price see the loss as the end result of Price out too fast looking for a KO last time, and not fully seeing the danger that Thompson represented in that fight.
Maloney said to the Liverpool Echo “I always believe in my fighters and one bad fight does not make a bad fighter. Tony can talk all he likes and look as good as he likes but I’m 100% confident that David has learned from the last fight.”
When I see fighters and promoters not giving the other fighter credit for having the skills and the power to win a fight like the way Thompson did against Price that tells me that they may be in denial about the loss. Saying that the loss was the result of a mistake of tactics for the fight isn’t giving Thompson credit for what he did in that fight.
I don’t think Price’s loss to Thompson was because he overlooked the 41-year-old American. I think just think Price didn’t have the punch resistance to take a decent shot to the side of his head. That kind of punch is a normal shot that a heavyweight is expected to take, and it’s not as if Price made a mistake or anything.
That fight was all Price until Thompson landed that shot. But that’s not a mistake on Price’s part for having taken that punch because he’s not a defensive wizard that doesn’t get hit. Price’s failure in the fight was in his inability to take the shot, and it has nothing to do with preparation, overlooking Thompson or using the wrong tactics.
Thompson was going to land a shot sooner or later anyway. It’s just that Price wasn’t able to handle the punch he was hit with and we might see the same thing tonight.
Thompson looks a lot more muscular in his arms this time around compared to last time, and Price looked downright timid at the weigh-in. He’d got that 1000 yard stare that some fighters get when they’re approaching a fight they don’t feel confident about their chances.
Price has a height and power advantage, but Thompson’s long arm length negates pretty much all of Price’s height. The reach is about the same between the two fighters, but Thompson is a lot more flexible with his upper body and capable of throwing punches from different angles.
Price looks like a good that has done a lot of weight lifting in his life and lacks the flexibility to throw punches from the distance and from different angles.
If Price is going to win this fight he’s going to have to do it within the first 6 rounds. If Thompson is still around after the 6th, I see him knocking out a tired Price by the 7th or 8th. Price has never fought beyond the 7th round before, and up until his fight with Thompson last February, all of his fights had been mismatches against truly awful opposition.
I can see Price gassing out big time if he’s forced to go into the second half of the fight, which is why it’s imperative that he gets a quick knockout tonight before Thompson takes him into the deep rounds and takes advantage of his inexperience in fighting longer fights.