One stoppage defeat is a step back, but something one can put down to a lucky punch, a laps in concentration or just one of those off nights, but stoppage defeats in succession is difficult to explain to both the fans and oneself. For David Price the next few days will culminate in trying to pinpoint exactly what is going wrong and what he can do to change his recent fortunes.
On Saturday night David Price fell foul to Tony Thompson for the second time this year. While Price had far more success in the fight labelled as "Redemption", the final result ended in a repeat, with Thompson scoring a stoppage in the 5th round after hitting the canvas in the 2nd.
Price began the contest well. Seemingly finding it impossible to miss the target in front of him with the right hand. But as Price found his confidence in his offence, the jab slowly disappeared, the gap closed and suddenly Price was slugging it out with the shorter man.
In the 2nd round a clean right hand sent Thompson to the canvas, and Tony was saved by the ropes in the next.
Into the 4th round and tell-tale signs of Price's fatigue were picked up by the veteran fighter, and so Thompson upped the tempo and badly hurt Price at the end of the round with a left-right combination to the body followed by shots upstairs.
In the next round it was obvious that Price hadn't recovered and a barrage of uppercuts tore through Price's limp guard. As the towering Liverpudlian toppled back, Thompson continued to wail away at head and body. With David throwing nothing back the referee stepped in to give a standing 8 count. Thankfully the third man in the ring noticed that the count was not enough for Price to recover his senses and the bout was waved off. The Merseyside crowd silenced once again by the American.
Price wore the same face as 4 months ago, maybe this time it's the right idea to accept that at this very moment he isn't at the same level as Tony Thompson, who's only defeats have come at the hands of, Wladimir Klitschko (twice) and Erik Kirkland - in just his 5th professional outing.
Can David Price recover? Of course he can. This is Heavyweight boxing, where suffering knockout defeats rarely effects what a heavyweight goes on to achieve. But Price must rebuild and rebuild slowly, the step up from Matt Skelton to Tony Thompson was just a ridiculously large one.
As for Thompson, although he has already fought Wladimir twice, with the Heavyweight kings lack of options beyond his upcoming bout vs Povetkin, it wont be a surprise to the see a third fight in the coming 12-18 months. Although a potential fight with Tyson Fury may well be looming.
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