I've already assessed the rematch loss Price suffered at the hands of Tony Thompson. At age 29, Price still has time to get his shit back together and make a run at the titles. Wladimir Klitschko went through a similar run of bad luck in losing to Sanders and Brewster when he was about 27/28 years old so Price CAN get better if his heart is in it.
First off Price must address the problems he had vs Tony Thompson. Stamina is the biggest issue that jumps out to most folks, but I believe Price was in solid shape and his poor stamina was actually a result of panic caused by a combination of Thompson's constant pressure and the fact that Thompson got up after a good hard knockdown seemed to take the wind out of Price's sails...very similar to the Wlad-Brewster I fight. Another point people will no doubt bring up is the pawing ineffective jab...I would concur HOWEVER Thompson is a southpaw so I think that should be noted.
Manny Steward God rest his soul, would have been the PERFECT trainer for Price. Lanky, big power, dodgy chin & stamina. And that no doubt would have been the "easy fix", just sign up with Manny and get to training. Now that Manny is no longer with us Price has fewer options especially with proven trainers. I think it would be best for Price to stick with his current trainer and maybe bring in a special coach like Lennox Lewis or Hell work with Wladimir Klitschko and Jonathan Banks, they know what they are doing. The advice given to Price was correct, the training seemed good enough for him to get a KO win as a result, I think the overwhelming majority of work needed to be done on David Price is psychological.
Price has to get used to the fact that everyone will ASSUME Tony Thompson has just blueprinted how to beat David Price. Well that's the great news for Price and I'll tell you why. NOW HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT TO TRAIN FOR. Everyone will come in straight at him and try to wear him down (guys are STILL attempting that vs Wladimir even though his loss to Brewster was 8 or 9 years ago!). Now Price has to re-learn to accept that certain guys you just won't be able to KO, you'll come across some fighters who have a very good chin or an exceptional defense and what you must focus on isn't HURTING your opponent but SCORING clean punches. Keep touching the opponent up and win rounds! Pump the jab, land the right cross, keep distance at your advantage, LEARN TO TIE UP! Don't be afraid to take a knee to gather yourself.
OK, now on to his career path. How to work your way back to get a title shot. #1 take some months off, rest, recovery, and then get back to working on climbing that ladder!
Opponents: You want a guy with no chin first to just get back on the winning streak, then you want guys with solid chin but no power, and then you build on from there. Get rounds in, learn the new elements to your fight plan and I would say that around this time in 2014 David Price should fight Tyson Fury and should humiliate him.
All is not lost for Price, he can do 2 things he can either recover and get better or he can accept that right now he's a broken fighter.
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