Joshua vs Povetkin: David Price vows to prove he is a better fighter than Sergey Kuzmin on Wembley bill
Monday 17 September 2018 15:24, UK
David Price firmly believes he is better than Sergey Kuzmin and says victory over the Russian prospect should not be considered an upset at Wembley Stadium.
The Liverpudlian heavyweight has accepted a late opportunity to face Kuzmin on the undercard for Anthony Joshua's world title fight with Alexander Povetkin this Saturday, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Kuzmin floored and stopped Joe Joyce in the amateur ranks, and holds a 12-fight unbeaten record as a professional, including nine knockouts, but Price is not daunted by his reputation as a destructive puncher.
"I've been training for a fight scheduled for two weeks from now anyway, so I'm fighting fit," Price told Sky Sports News.
This time, I know I'm better than Kuzmin
"I'm going to come to cause what would be seen as an upset in a lot of people's eyes, but not in my own eyes.
"The difference with this fight is that for the Povetkin fight, I had doubts going into it, whether I would be able to compete with Povetkin, because my last fight was a six-round fight.
"Before that I had lost again and I had no form, hadn't been able to put more fights with wins together, so the Povetkin fight, the doubts were in my head.
"This time, I know I'm better than Kuzmin. I know I'm a better fighter than him, so I'm going to be getting in there with that assertiveness, and confidence to go from the word go.
"With the Povetkin fight, yeah I had him hurt, I had him wobbled and one shot changed everything, and that's heavyweight boxing, but Saturday night is going to be my night."
Price felt the power of Povetkin as he was halted in the fifth round and has warned Joshua to remain cautious in the early stages of this weekend's title fight.
"He definitely punches hard," said the former British and Commonwealth champion. "He's an accurate puncher, he is ring savvy, he's clever, good judgement of distance. People don't want to write him off in this fight.
"I think Anthony Joshua is obviously more experienced on the big stage, than I am, or was, and I think he's got hand speed to match Povetkin, where I haven't. I tried to punch with Povetkin, beat him to the punch, and that evidently ended in the knockout.
"I think he's just got to stay switched on, choose the right moments to let his shots go. Not try and start too quickly, because the longer the fight goes on, the more it will be in his favour."
Watch Joshua vs Povetkin, at Wembley Stadium, on September 22, live on Sky Sports Box Office, from 6pm. Book via your Sky remote or book it online here.
Even if you aren't a Sky TV subscriber you can book and watch it at skysports.com/boxofficelive.
