THE heavyweight division might be enjoying its most successful period in decades but it has not been without scandal.
The WBC’s top contender, Dillian Whyte is currently fighting a doping charge. The king of the cruiserweights, Oleksandr Usyk was supposed to be making his heavyweight debut this weekend but that has all blown up after his opponent, Tyrone Spong, failed a test on the brink of the biggest fight of his boxing career.
On October 26, Dereck Chisora had booked himself a big name opponent in New Zealand’s Joseph Parker (the one loss on Andy Ruiz’s record), but that was thrown into chaos when the Kiwi became ill as the result of a spider bite.
The man who has offered to step in and replace Joseph Parker is one of the true giants of boxing, David Price. When you compare the modern crop of heavyweights to those of the sixties and seventies, Muhammad Ali and his peers come out looking positively svelte by comparison, and it is no secret that there are a fair few failed drug tests at heavyweight, but Price has the kind of frame that you cannot hope to bulk up to.
Price stands six foot eight with an eight-two inch wingspan and unlike fellow British giant Tyson Fury, Price has genuine knockout power in his fists. His straight right could take a horse off its feet, he is a master of the “jab-left hook-right straight” set up, and he hits the body as well as anyone in the division.
So why haven’t you been hearing Price’s name in the mix with the ten or twelve elite boxers in the heavyweight division? The truth is that everyone has the read on Price and his weakness is about the most glaring you can have as a heavyweight: he cannot reliably take a shot. When Price was making his way up as a professional after winning bronze in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he was matched against the 41-year-old Tony Thompson.
Thompson had just come off a loss to the champion, Wladimir Klitschko and the plan was to use the old man’s name to puff up Price. A glancing blow in second round sent Price down and when he got to his feet he couldn’t find his balance in time to prevent the referee from awarding Thompson the knockout.
Rather than take a step back and have Price smash a few more binmen, Price’s management booked an immediate rematch and this time Price was knocked out again. Since then Price has reliably put together short streaks of wins over regional competition and been decked in every third or fourth fight.
Much of Price’s trouble seems to stem from an inability to maintain distance and use his reach. When he is out at range his jab and right straight are tremendous, but the moment his opponent steps inside of that range he seems clueless and puts on his earmuffs. Even arms like Price’s cannot effectively cover his head and protect his lengthy midsection at the same time so men like Povetkin have been able to quickly wilt him with repeated blows to the midriff.
Before you completely write Price off though, it is worth considering that he was supposed to fall down for Dave Allen in his last fight and flat out refused. Instead Price took the young Brit apart, often on the inside. Shoulder rolling right hands and returning with short, sharp uppercuts, Price made Allen quit before the eleventh round.
While this was promising it still involved Price spending extended periods in close with his opponent. One thing that jumps out at you when you watch Price fight is that he will never hold his opponent. The clinch smothers a shorter fighter’s offence on the inside and when the referee is forced to break the fighters it is an easy reset out to range. Every great heavyweight outfighter from Ali to Lewis to Klitschko has made use of it, but Price seems to flat out refuse.
Dereck Chisora is the name part of this match up. A popular fighter on the British boxing scene, he earned an unsuccessful shot at Vitali Klitschko’s world title back in 2012, and in recent years has been in the business of collecting international, European and British titles. Chisora’s most recent brush with the big prizes came in a losing effort against Dillian Whyte for the WBC Silver title—essentially a piece of metal symbolizing number one contendership in the WBC’s rankings.
Chisora is a mauling, straight-forward banger who clubs opponents down with loopy punches. His troubles have come from opponents who can hold him off and straight shoot, or who can hook more tightly and stay disciplined on the inside, and is being seen by many as a significant favourite because of the reputations of both men.
Chisora is always aggressive and can take a terrific shot. Even in his last loss against Whyte, “Del Boy” was hit hard throughout and only lost when a flush left hook turned his head around by the point of the chin in the eleventh round. A fight against Chisora is a promise of a gruelling night’s work. Meanwhile Price is powerful, quick and clever on offence but tends to fade and lose confidence the longer a fight drags on. His tendency to put on the earmuffs and let his opponent tee off on him in close is not promising when you consider Chisora’s constant forward movement and body-head combinations.
Most concerning is that Price’s last loss came against Sergei Kuzmin came by retirement following the fourth round. After that fight Price gave interviews in which he said he was unhappy at the lack of preparation but took the fight at short notice as a business move and that the plan had always been to have his corner call it off if he was having trouble. While it is daft to put fighters on blast for quitting—rather than taking a pointless beating on a bad night—this fight is also a short notice booking.
Dereck Chisora 1/4
Draw 33/1
David Price 11/4
