Liverpool’s David Price blew Audley Harrison out of the ring in a first round knock-out as he took just 82 seconds in his defence of the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles at a packed-out Echo Arena.
Undefeated Price was backed by 8,500 fired-up Scousers as he put Harrison down with a lethal combination of punches in round one, and afterwards told JMU Journalism he wants to return to Liverpool next year for a dream fight at Anfield.
From the start, the 29-year-old looked to keep his opponent at arm’s length before catching Olympic gold medalist Harrison off guard with a clean right-handed punch.
Price then unleashed a flurry of punches that proved too much for the 40-year-old challenger, who was left sprawled out on the canvas.
At the post-fight press conference, Price revealed that even he was surprised at his own devastating peformance. He said: “ I shocked myself with the power in my punches, I didn’t expect to do that to Audley Harrison so quickly.
“I thought I’d ‘break his arm’ over a period time and get to him after a good few rounds. I think once I smell blood I can finish the job and that’s what I did… I took him out.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkmGiE7rqIA
Fight promoter Frank Maloney also paid tribute to Price’s ability, claiming his punch would have knocked out former heavyweight Razor Ruddock and the giant Klitschko brothers with the same blow.
Maloney said he plans to show off Price away from Liverpool for his next scheduled fight against Matt Skelton on December 8th: “ We are going to take David Price on the road, called the David Price road show,” said Maloney. “We may move out of Liverpool to give other people in Britain a chance to see him, we are looking at a couple of venues and hope to announce it Tuesday.”
However, Price exclusively told JMU Journalism that one day he wants to return to fulfill his ambition of a title defence at Liverpool FC’s Anfield stadium.
He said: “It would have to be a fight big enough to fill it, there is a couple out there would fill it but it’s up to Frank to make it happen. It would have to happen next summer, we have engagements prior to that we have to deal with but it is a dream to fight at Anfield.”
Looking ahead to the Skelton bout and beyond, Price said: “ Each fight, each win breeds more confidence.
“If someone would have said to me three and a half years ago when I made my debut, ‘do you think you can be heavyweight champion of the world?’ I would have said ‘yeah’ but I wouldn’t believe it.
“Now I truly believe I can become heavyweight champion of the world.”