I KO’d Anthony Joshua who was helped to his feet in sparring session and beat Tyson Fury in amateurs
David Price was once widely considered to be the nation's top heavyweight prospect, and for good reason.
The power-punching youngster won Olympic bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games and established himself as superior to Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua at the time.
Price had an age advantage over the pair as he is now 39, while Fury is 34 and Joshua 33.
His first rivalry came against the youthful Gypsy King when they were both amateur boxers competing to represent Team GB in Beijing.
Price came out on top when they fought, though they would never end up having a rematch as professionals.
Fury wrote in his autobiography about the bout: “I knew I was coming to the end of my amateur days.
“I would eventually have 31 wins from 35 bouts and I would say that only one of those defeats was genuine – when I lost to my fellow British boxer David Price in the north-west final of the ABA seniors competition in Manchester in 2006.
“I had Price on the canvas in the second round with a good shot, but he clearly outpointed me. His experience was the decisive factor.”
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Price told the : "It's not something I'm going to dine out on, beating Tyson Fury when he was 18.
"But I was a young man myself and he was a world bronze medallist at the time. If you watch the fight it was a good fight.
"I had to be near my best to beat him the way I did because he has obviously proven since how good he is, but even then he had something about him.
"I'd seen young upstarts come and go and when I first sparred him I thought, 'I'll put this fella in his place.' But he was different. I recognised that.
"I went up to Sheffield because I was on my first ten-round fight, and I’d always struggle for sparring...
“I just caught him with a big right hand and down he went. He had to get helped up, type of thing, and ushered out the ring.
"And it was no big deal to me at the time, and there was no shame in that happening to you if I hit you."
Joshua later confirmed the story and explained: "I had come out of a police cell the day I went up to training. I won’t use it as an excuse.
"Got nicked on the way up to training camp, for trouble.
“Got out Saturday and I went up there. I started sparring as soon as I got up there, straight from the station.
" I do think he was very good at the time, very strong. And I was making too many mistakes.
“Those circumstances don’t help when you’re sparring an elite fighter.”
Sadly for Price, he would go on to be stopped by Tony Thompson twice, Erkan Teper, Christian Hammer, Alexander Povetkin, Sergey Kuzmin and Derek Chisora before retiring in 2021 without even challenging for a world title.
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In contrast, both Fury and Joshua learned from their negative experiences with Price and went on to conquer the belts.
Fury is currently the WBC champion, while Joshua is a two-time heavyweight king. His road back to the top starts on Saturday against Jermaine Franklin.
Joshua vs Franklin live on talkSPORT
Anthony Joshua's quest to become a three-time heavyweight champion begins on 1 April against Jermaine Franklin and talkSPORT will be live from London's O2 to bring you coverage of the fight.
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