Anthony Joshua had to be ‘helped up’ after being dropped by David Price with a ‘big right hand’ in sparring
DAVID PRICE claimed Anthony Joshua had to be “helped up” after he knocked him out with a “big right hand” in sparring.
The pair of British heavyweights were former training partners at Team GB’s Sheffield HQ.
And one session in 2011 stands out among them all as Price floored then-amateur champion AJ.
Opening up on the incident, Price told iD Boxing: “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 was one year away from winning Olympic gold in London, which later paved the way for two unified world title reigns in the professional ranks.
And in 2018 he admitted to being put down by Price, just hours after leaving a police cell.
Joshua revealed: “I had come out of a police cell the day I went up to training. I won’t use it as an excuse.
“I was coming up to training camp, Thursday to Sunday, because I was on a development course.
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“But I got nicked on the way to training camp – for just trouble – and I got out on the Saturday.
“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.
“I even had to get the train to Sheffield because they took my car – just to show my commitment. What I learnt was you cannot stop someone like me.
“They say you have two types of fighters; those that get dropped and stay down.
“But the ones you have to be wary of are the ones who keep on coming. You just cannot stop someone like that.
I just caught him with a big right hand and down he went.
David Price on flooring Anthony Joshua
“I learnt it will take more than just power or durability to stop me.”
Joshua, 33, is now set to return in the spring of 2023 following consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk, 35.
Meanwhile Price, 39, is currently retired and insisted he only ever made the sparring tale with AJ public to chase a fight with the star.
He said: “I never ever mentioned it until I started getting mentioned as a potential opponent for him in 2016 it was, when he fought Erik Molina.
“I was in the IBF top ten so it could have been a voluntary defence for him and I was calling for the fight and people were laughing at the thought of me fighting him, and that’s when I thought I’ll spill the beans then and let the people know that he isn’t indestructible.
“Because at that time people thought AJ was the terminator and that he would never ever be hurt.
“Or it was this new generation of fans that people were talking about him and I thought I’d just let the cat out the bag type of thing.
“Only for my own benefit, not to try and put him down it was to try and gain something from it myself. But it didn’t work out anyway, I didn’t get the fight.”