Anthony Joshua needed to be helped up after David Price dropped him in a sparring session back in 2011, one year before his London Olympic triumph.
Joshua was a young amateur at the time, and had only been boxing for a few years when he took on Price, a top British title contender at the time, in a sparring session. They were working out in a full-contact spar, and the Liverpool native landed a right hand that put his opponent down.
However, Price's career was hampered by injuries and he never managed to reach the heights that Joshua or his long-time rival Tyson Fury were able to achieve. He was stopped in June 2019 by Derek Chisora, and decided to hang up the gloves shortly after, without having ever even fought for a world title.
“I just caught him with a big right hand and down he went," Price recalled during a recent interview with iD Boxing. "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, especially at that time before I had a couple of hand injuries.
"And I never mentioned it until I was mentioned as a potential opponent in 2016 when he fought Eric Molina. I was in the IBF top ten so I 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’d spill the beans and let people know that he isn’t indestructible.”
The story has previously been verified by Joshua, who would go on to win Olympic gold as well as twice becoming the unified world champion during his career. He claimed in a 2018 interview that Price has given an accurate account of their session, but also noted that he had spent the night in jail prior.
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“I had come out of a police cell the day I went up to training," Joshua explained back when the topic was first brought up. “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. 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 learnt it will take more than just power or durability to stop me.”
