By Michael Collins: IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko is open to the idea of facing unbeaten British heavyweight David Price whenever the British heavyweight is open to taking the fight. Wladimir welcomes a fight against the big 6’8” Price if he wants the fight.
Speaking to the Dailystar.co.uk “Maybe David Price and I are going to end up fighting. I will not exclude David from my list of possible opponents. We will see how he develops himself…I see myself in him in a certain way. He is a couple of inches taller than I am, but his technique is pretty much the same as mine, so there are certain similarities between us – and my trainer Emanuel Steward always points them out…Maybe Price looks up to me.”
Price is coming off of a 4th round knockout victory over Sam Sexton last Saturday night in a fight where Price knocked Sexton down three separate times before the fight was halted in the 4th. Price has been knocking out pretty much all of the over-matched opposition put in with him lately, and it’s pretty clear that he needs to be moved up another level.
Price is looking for a fight possibly in July on the same card as Amir Khan vs. Danny Garcia on the 14th of July. However, Price isn’t expected to take on much more than a Sexton caliber fighter at best. His promoter Frank Maloney doesn’t want to rush the former 2008 Olympian for Britain despite the fact that Price is about to turn 29. He’s taking the go slow approach with him. Some of it may be designed to wait out Wladimir and his brother Vitali Klitschko, because once they’re out of boxing the only competition for Price is Robert Helenius, Dereck Chisora, Kubrat Pulev, Alexander Povetkin, Seth Mitchell, Chris Arreola and Denis Boytsov.
There’s still questions about whether Price can take a good shot without getting knocked out. In the amateur ranks, he was stopped by Roberto Cammarelle and Bermane Stiverne, two hard punchers. Since turning pro, Price hasn’t been put in with anyone with any kind of power so it’s difficult to know how well of a shot he can take. For all we know, Price could fold as soon as he faces his first puncher. Cammarelle kind of wrote the book in how to beat Price by getting in close to him and throwing a lot of punches. Price is big, but he’s not fast and he can’t match quicker fighters if they decide to flurry on him the way that Cammarelle did in the Olympics.