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From soccer player to warrior, Lauren Price wants to quickly rise to the top

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Lauren Price fights former undisputed champion Jessica McCaskill on Saturday in just her seventh professional fight, but says her first world title fight won’t come anytime soon.

Price (6-0, 1 KO), 29, has been rapidly moving up the professional ranks since winning a gold medal at the last Olympic Games in 2021, and she is undeterred by the task of facing McCaskill for the WBA American welterweight title at the Utilita Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

This will be Price’s first time fighting in front of a Welsh crowd since becoming an amateur in 2017, and she believes her experience as both an Olympian and international footballer will aid her cope with the pressure.

“When I left the amateurs, I wanted to move quickly and I’ve been calling for massive fights since last year,” Price told ESPN. “I don’t agree with the opinion that it’s too soon for me, as long as my team believes in me, that’s what counts. I cut myself off from all the noise, good and bad.

“I know that amateur is different than professional, but in my opinion winning an Olympic gold medal is much more challenging than winning a world title. There is nothing more challenging than winning an Olympic gold medal and I think people like Vasily Lomachenko, Oleksandr Usyk, say the same. Anyone who has been to the Olympics and been through them, I think would say the same.

Price, who went into the Tokyo Olympics as the favorite to win gold, believes that the experience she gained at the Olympics will aid her fight for the title.

“I’ve always had pressure on me, but if anything, I’ve picked it up through my boxing and football careers,” Price said. “Captaining Wales Under-19 football and other experiences have gotten me to where I am today.

“Fighting in Cardiff will mean the world to me. I want to create a legacy for Welsh boxing and ensure the massive boxing nights return to Cardiff. I was youthful when [Hall of Famer] Joe Calzaghe fought back and what he did for Wales was amazing. I want to follow in Joe’s footsteps by making another history by becoming the first Welsh Women’s World Champion.”

McCaskill (12-3-1, 5 KO), 39, defeated Cecilia Braekhus in back-to-back fights in 2020 and 2021 to become the undisputed welterweight champion. The Chicago boxer is also the unified junior welterweight champion, but in her last fight she drew against Englishwoman Sandy Ryan, who currently holds the WBO title. McCaskill suffered decision defeats to England’s Katie Taylor and Chantelle Cameron at junior welterweight in 2017 and 2022, respectively, but is undefeated at welterweight and will make her fifth title defense against Price.

Price, a southpaw who recently sparred with Cameron, expects McCaskill to try to engage her in a fight.

“You see what you get with Jessica, she’s gritty, she’s tough, she tries to tease you,” Price said. “She’s a bit rowdy and swings a lot. I don’t think her defense is great, she takes a lot of shots like Sandy, and I saw Chantelle box her.

“She’s a great fighter, this is the hardest test for me. Sometimes she will ask me questions, but I believe that I will win. If you are a better boxer, you will outperform her. She will try to drag you to a dogfight, but if you have speed and good legs, I think it will be very challenging for her.”

Price played football to a good standard with Cardiff City’s club team and was also capped twice for the senior Wales national team, making a total of 52 appearances for all age groups and senior Wales teams. However, Price has no intention of mixing the two sports like middleweight queen Claressa Shields does with boxing and MMA.

“Right now I’m just focused on boxing and that’s my main goal,” Price said. “I don’t think I’ll go back to football because I haven’t played it for a while.”

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Brooklyn heavyweight Pryce Taylor is looking forward to 2025

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Heavyweight Pryce Taylor

Fighting for the first time with the full support of his promoter, Salita Promotions, undefeated Brooklyn heavyweight Pryce Taylor later said he was confident and confident he could do well in boxing.

Taylor (5-0, 3 KO), 28, defeated KeShawn Jackson last Thursday night in Flint, Michigan, fighting in an exhibition put on by his promoter in which he recorded an impressive third-round stoppage to finish his 2024 campaign on a high. year note.

“It was good to fight on a bigger stage, in a compact arena, in a nice atmosphere,” Taylor said about his first fight with a promotional contract. “My manager, Keith Sullivan, supported me by agreeing to sign with Salita Promotions. He talked to several promoters, but we felt that Dimitri Salita would be the right candidate for me.

“I felt like I had succeeded; I felt essential, but that was just the beginning. It was the same on fight night, I felt respect and appreciation from the entire Salita promotional company. My goal is to be a more recognizable player and be recognized by the fans. I’m hungry to perform in the coming year.”

“Four knockdowns were counted. I really hurt him with a body shot and when he felt my power he was done. I threw a barrage of punches into the corner (ss photo below) and he tried to hit me with a windmill punch. Then I hit him with a check hook, which ended the fight. He (Jackson) didn’t want to get knocked out, so he tried to show he was still fighting.”

“Of course,” Sullivan commented, “I’m joyful with the victory. This was another developmental fight and Pryce is learning and developing as a fighter. We had a busy year with 8 fights scheduled and 5 that actually crossed the line, so it was a very good first year for him as a pro. Right after that, I talked to Dimitri to arrange the next fight. We hope to have it scheduled in the coming weeks.”

Looking ahead to 2025, Taylor wants his next fight to be a six-rounder scheduled for his next outing, then move up to eight to fight for the junior title.

“I will now train to play 10 rounds,” Taylor concluded, “so that I will be ready when it comes time to play 12 rounds.”

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AI referee ‘free from bias and human error’ during audit of Usyk vs. Fury 2 match

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Usyk vs Fury 2 full size poster

Oleksandr Usyk’s rematch with Tyson Fury on Saturday night will go down in history for several reasons, but now there are more of them than any other.

Turki Alalshikh has confirmed that the Usyk vs. Fury 2 fight will be supervised by an AI referee in a first-of-its-kind boxing event. Artificial intelligence statistics are nothing recent in sports and have been developed for years by companies such as JABBR, which claim that “technological progress eliminates elements of human error from sports.”

AI referee overseeing the Usyk vs Fury 2 fight

Riyad’s season leader, Alalshikh, has taken the first step to ensure the future of the sport where all boxers who deserve to win receive their reward. The fourth scorer will only be present this time to check the score, but if he proves successful, he may become a indefinite player in the sport.

Explaining his intentions, Alalshikh said: “For the first time in history, the fight will be monitored by an artificial intelligence referee. [The judge will be] Free from bias and human error, which The Ring offers you [his recently purchased magazine].

“This groundbreaking experiment, which will have no impact on official results, will debut during the biggest fight of the century, Usyk vs. Fury 2, on December 21. Don’t miss the history in the making,” he added.

The news came during the Grand Arrivals event, which featured a monumental clash that will see Usyk and Fury fight for a unified heavyweight crown at the Kingdom Arena. Usyk [20-0, 13 KOs] puts his WBC, WBA and WBO belts on the line against former two-time heavyweight champion Fury [33-1-1, 24 KOs]. The highly anticipated rematch will take place on Saturday, December 21, worldwide on DAZN PPV at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Usyk vs Fury card information updated

Former interim WBC 154-pound titleholder Serhii Bohachuk [24-2, 23 KOs] Now he will face British boxer Ishmael Davis [13-1, 6 KOs] in a 12-round super welterweight fight after Israil Madrimov was forced to withdraw due to illness.

Rising heavyweight star Moses Itauma [22-0, 10 KOs] and his opponent, Australian Demsey McKean (22-1, 14 KO), are ready to fight. Undefeated Johnny Fisher [12-0, 11 KOs[ squares off against former Commonwealth title challenger Dave Allen [23-6, 18 KOs].

Meanwhile, former Commonwealth Games gold medalist Peter McGrail [10-1, 6 KOs] takes over from Rhys Edwards at the last minute [16-0, 4 KOs] in a super featherweight fight. Isaac Lowe is also on the bill [25-2-3, 8 KOs[ will face Lee McGregor [14-1-1, 11 KOs] in a featherweight fight.

Daniel Lapin completes the card [10-0, 4 KOs]in which he will face another undefeated lightweight champion prospect, Dylan Colin [14-0, 4 KOs]and heavyweight knockout artist Andrii Novytskyi [14-0, 10 KOs] will face Edgar Ramirez [10-1-1, 4 KOs].

As is the tradition of the season, Riyad will feature local talent as Mohammed Alakel looks for a 2-0 win over Joshua Ocampo [8-33-5, 6 KOs].

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Billy Dib wins the final battle after a successful battle with cancer

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Billy Dib final fight

Former two-time world champion and cancer survivor Billy Dib won an eight-round super lightweight farewell bout against Game, the brave but outclassed Atilla Kayabasi.

The Z’s, aka all-time greats Carlos Zarate and Alfonso Zamora, brought “Billy The Kid” to the ring accompanied by the sweet tones of Frank Sinatra singing My…what else? Adolescent Bridger Walker performed Round Card duties between rounds.

Billy gave us a virtuoso performance, making Atilla’s face turn red with every strike on the book. The gulf of experience and a cascade of blows would have defeated a weaker man, Atilla survived it. Billy raised his hand moments before the bell rang to end the eighth and final round.

By winning his last fight, the WBC Champion of Hope achieved the impossible. He and Atilla embraced, and WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman entered the ring to say: “This is an extraordinary dream come true. Now we welcome Billy outside the ring.”

Dib said, “Alhamdulillah, I won and left on my own terms. There’s no better way to close this chapter. Thank you to Mauricio Sulaiman, my wife, my son Laith, my family and my amazing fans for all the love. I dedicate this victory to Israel Vázquez, every cancer warrior, and to my brother Vames.”

Billy brave. Billy the fearless one who fought against the darkest and most pressing adversities. Our tears of joy and admiration for the Hero who always smiles, even in the darkest hour, before the dawn.

The results of the glorious fight night organized at the 62nd World Boxing Council Convention at the Grand Elysee Hotel saw several hard-fought fights for the WBC championship from nuclear to heavyweight.

In the main fight of the evening, WBC super flyweight champion Asley González successfully defended her title against Mary Romero.

The more compact and harder-hitting Asley pursued a longer-armed, short-haired opponent who was constantly spinning in retreat.

There was some heated exchanges when they came together, but the lasting combinations came from Asley, who actually got caught with some tough, but single, solitary rights. Her level of work, more precise, concise beam punches and high-pressure fighting forcing Mary to constantly retreat won UD over.

Tough-hitting southpaw striker Mourad Aliev defended his WBC International Silver heavyweight title with a sixth-round KO victory over Davide Brito. Physically more imposing, Mourad made contact and often.

In the third round, David suffered a nosebleed and his mouthguard was broken, causing him to fall from one side of the ring to the other. He tried to fight back sporadically, but in round six he was trapped on the ropes and dropped by a massive right hand. Everything is over.

Serkay Comert won the WBC International silver title by defeating Yassin Hermi via UD. In the third round, it turned into an all-out war, which continued into the next round.

Serkay often struggled against the ropes and landed frequently. Yassin’s face swelled and in the sixth round a series of punches landed on him, and before the eighth round the ring doctor looked at him for a long time. He fought tough but got hit, especially down the stretch.

Ermal Hadribeaj won the MD title by defeating Eddy Colnenares to win the WBC International super welterweight belt. The lanky, much taller Eddy, who has the reach of an albatross, was shaky for the first three rounds. He then came to life and there was a lively exchange of words.

Southpaw Ermal was constantly jumping and weaving to avoid those long ramrod arms. He was more concerned with getting the win.

Benjamin Gavazi defeated Branimir Malencia in the tenth and final round to win the WBC international silver featherlight heavyweight title. Ben was catching Bran with right hands and various uppercuts. While Bran tried to crowd him and deal damage from head to toe. Two left-right headshot combinations in round ten convinced Bran to throw in the red towel at 1.41. So… TKO.

Esneidy Rodriguez defeated Sana Hazuki via UD for the WBC Silver Atomweight belt. The taller Suri tried to keep him at bay, but was relentlessly pursued by the more compact and powerful and grimly determined Esneidy, who landed several piercing combos and uppercuts. Suri had some success with long straight rights, but paid the price when Esneidy negated the range.

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