By James Slater: David Price Vs. Tyson Fury, arguably the best all-British heavyweight showdown between young and highly promising fighters, will not be happening any time soon – if ever. Unbeaten Fury, who lost to 2008 Olympian Price as an amateur, has officially vacated both his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles.
Price earned mandatory challenger status with his recent, highly impressive 1st-round destruction of John McDermott, and the Liverpool giant said post-fight that he was “sure” Fury would take the fight with him because Tyson is “a genuine fighting man.” Now, however, in light of Fury’s move, Price’s promoter Frank Maloney has called Fury “chicken.”
“Chicken Fury was going to get the biggest payday of his career to date, and has let himself, his fans, his travelling community and most of all the boxing world down,” Maloney said as quoted by Fightnews.com. “This is why people are turning against the sport I love and again politics have ruled what a boxer does. The BBB of C have purse bids for a reason and this fight generated more interest than normal with all the top promoters in the U.K bidding for it.”
That’s Maloney’s take on Fury’s decision; naturally Mick Hennessey, big Tyson’s promoter, has a different opinion.
“Fury versus Price was a quality fight and, in my opinion, it should go out to the widest possible audience,” Hennessey said to BBC Sport. “That’s why I offered David Price £100,000 to fight Tyson Fury on Channel 5 (U.K terrestrial channel), which unfortunately was turned down by his promoter on Monday.”
Both Tyson and his promoter said Fury will now “move on” and look for a shot at a world title. The BBB of C will now “consider the status of the [British] championship later today.”
So, the mouth-watering clash that would arguably decide THE best heavyweight in the U.K will not happen. Maybe the two will hook up in the future; maybe when (or if) one of them has won a major title. A natural, due to the two men having that amateur history, Fury-Price would have been a huge occasion for just the domestic title.
Maloney says Fury will regret not taking the fight, Hennessey claims Team-Price rejected that £100,000 offer. Bottom line: the fans lose out on a great match-up.
Who will Price now face for the vacant title or titles, I wonder?