British heavyweight champion David Price was stopped in the second-round following a superb performance by American veteran Tony Thompson in Liverpool on Saturday night.
The bookmaker’s favourite, Price, came into the fight with an unbeaten record of seven wins, but had no answer for Thompson. Many saw Saturday night’s fight as merely a pit-stop on Price’s journey to his ultimate destination of a world title fight with Wladimir Klitschko but Thompson stunned the crowd at the Liverpool Echo Arena.
Price began the fight brightly but failed to land any big shots, as the evasive American proved he was going to be more than just a pushover. Price began the second-round brilliantly, forcing Thompson into the corner and going to work on the body, but the American defended well and escaped from the corner.
This allowed the bout to open up and both men traded blows in the centre of the ring, with the Liverpool crowd rising to their feet and cheering on their home-grown hero. However, the 6,000 Liverpudlians were stunned when Thompson landed a right-hander to the side of Price’s head and the 29-year old Briton hit the canvas.
Price tried to get up but he was clearly in trouble and the referee had no choice but to stop the contest.
As David Price came crashing down on the Liverpool canvas last night, his world title aspirations followed suit. It was a crushing blow for British boxing.
