As Sylvester Stallone puts together his Creed sequel, David Price says he hopes Tyson Fury will have a part in his own ‘Rocky’ story.
Fury put Price back in the spotlight last week ahead of the Liverpudlian’s comeback fight next weekend when he put him on his list of possible comeback opponents.
Tyson I'm the last (and only) Englishman to beat you! I know deep down you still want revenge. Now if you don't mind I'm fitting an en suite https://t.co/VHaroThIbI
— David Price (@DavidPrice_1) November 16, 2017
Price says he’s happy to be there after a traumatic 12 months.
He was being considered for a shot at Anthony Joshua last December before Eric Molina was handed his chance – and worse followed for Price in February when Christian Hammer handed him what looked a possible career-ending seventh-round defeat.
The 34 year old decided to fight on and will have Derry Mathews in his corner when he meets Kamil Sokolowski in Brentwood on Saturday, December 2.
“I’m going to watch ‘The Cinderella Man’ and Rocky 2 before the fight for a bit of inspiration,” said Price, bronze medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“I know it sounds daft and they are just films, but they show that boxers have been where I am before and still got to where they wanted to be.
“I want to come back with a win and then I’m open to offers.
“It would be great if the Tyson Fury fight was made, but it’s still a long way off. I need to get a win and he needs to get his problems sorted. It would capture the public’s imagination. He would see it as an easy return. People think I’m finished.
“Whether the fight happens or not, Tyson has put my name out there and I’m grateful for that.
Would love ❤️ to put it right if I could,
Like I said I'm the past they will need 10 plumbers to fix u when I'm done with u.😉— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) November 16, 2017
“Tyson owes it to himself to fight again. Everyone has benefitted him from turning the division on its head (by beating Wladimir Klitschko in November, 2015) and he must be frustrated.
“He freed the titles up and fighters who might not have had opportunities have had them if Klitschko was still around.
“People were waiting for Klitschko to go – and Tyson got rid of him.
“There’s more competition in the heavyweight division now and more good fights.
“Once he loses his first lump of weight, he will start feeling good – and that’s a drug. He has been heavy before and got the weight off and I’m sure he will do it again.”
Fury and Price have history, of course.
Price was a points winner when they met as amateurs in the North West Counties final of the ABA championships in 2007 and Fury wanted a box off that didn’t materialise.
Yes big pricy u were my only real loss in my career Amateur or professional
— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) November 16, 2017
In the pros, they were scheduled to meet when Price was the British champion. Fury became his mandatory and Price said: “They took a different route. It was frustrating for me, but it proved to be a good move on his behalf. I would have had a great chance of beating him at the time, but he went from strength from strength.”
Price’s career went in the opposite direction and defeat to Hammer looked to end his ambitions of fighting at world level.
But he says he got things wrong in the build up to that fight.
He scaled a mighty 19st 9lbs and says that Mathews, Joe McNally and George Vaughan have got him to shed a few pounds.
“I put a lot of weight on as an experiment to see how I got on,” said Price.
“It’s OK being heavy, but to perform I need to be 18 stones really. I want to be mobile, get my feet moving.
“I feel like a middleweight now compared to how I felt.
“I was thinking about walking away after the Hammer fight, but as time passed, I started thinking: ‘Did I have the right preparation for that fight? Was that the best David Price possible? I owe it to myself to get myself in the best shape possible and then I will have no regrets if it happens again.
“Boxing is mainstream now and I don’t want to look back and think I missed out on being part of a golden age.
“I went to Cardiff (for the Anthony Joshua-Carlos Takam fight) and it was like the FA Cup final – but for one man.
“It’s unbelievable and we might not see this again.”
Price accepts that while Joshua is at the top, he is starting all over again.
“For the first time in my career, I don’t have a promoter and I know opportunities could be few and far between,” he said.
“I’m not the next big thing anymore. I’m just a normal fella who happens to fight for a living.
“It’s nice that there’s no pressure, but I want it again because when there’s pressure it means you’re doing well.
“I thought the pressure was a burden, but now I’m thinking: ‘I want the pressure of the big fights again’ and I’m better equipped to deal with it this time.”
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