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Lauren Price is looking for a home fight in Wales as the Olympic gold medalist prepares to take her professional career to the next level in 2023.
At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the GB squad is Britain’s most successful Olympic boxing team in 100 years. Wales’ Price was one of the stars of the side, winning the middleweight gold medal with a sequence of outstanding performances.
She turned professional in 2022, won her debut at Wembley Arena and then stopped Timea Belik on the undercard of Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall at The O2 in London in October.
Lauren Price is focused on a busy 2023 (Image: Lawrence Lustig)
Now Price wants to return to Wales to fight as a professional.
“That would be brilliant. That’s the dream of getting the Welsh fans behind me,” Price said Sky Sports. “It would be a dream come true for boxing in Wales.
“We talked about it,” he added. “The sooner I get into Wales and get the fans, the better. I have a lot of support at the Olympics.
“If I box in Wales they will get behind me.”
Boxing is not the only sport where he has represented Wales. He also plays soccer for international teams.
“I play football, I play for Cardiff,” he said. “To box in the stadium will be great one day.”
Price’s Olympic gold medal was all the more impressive because he won in the middleweight class, a division or two above his natural weight. In the coming years, if he reaches the world class as a professional, there is a potential super-fight that he can do. Boxing Claressa Shields at super welterweight will be tough to beat.
“As long as he’s down a little bit yeah, why not?” Price said cheerfully. “Who knows, it can even fill the Princedom [stadium].”
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Olympic gold medalist Lauren Price describes her remarkable career in sport, including captaining Wales and playing for Cardiff City
Price will next contest the last six rounds before moving up to eight rounds. Before the end of 2023, he wants to compete more than 10 rounds, championship distance.
Like his partner Karriss Artingstall, a Tokyo Olympic medalist and now professional fighter, Price wants to box five times in the next 12 months.
“We are in six-rounders but we are training like it is a 10-round fight. We are both in top condition,” said Price. “If I get five fights, by the end of the year I’ll be more ready to go.
“The pro game is different so we want to step it up. I want to be a 10 rounder but I will listen to Rob. [McCracken, their trainer] and follow his advice.
“As amateurs, we are not used to the crowd and so on. We also have to use it. All the little things are pros that are different from the amateurs, not wearing a headguard, getting smaller. Gloves, having a lot of them.
“When the time is right he [McCracken] can point us in the right direction to win the world title. Along the way now, the next few fights are learning to fight to get us to the right place.
Price has developed. Just two fights into his pro career, he looked dangerous last time when he forced a stoppage against Belik in four rounds.
“I put on a lot of weight as an amateur because I boxed at 75kgs, so now I’m boxing people who weigh the same as me. So it’s a bit different and it takes a lot to learn but I still want to keep my speed and movement because that’s what I want,” said Price .
“But in the professional game, I want to be able to receive big shots as well, all-rounder really. In the first fight, I boxed quite technically and in the last fight I just wanted to get him out of there.”
Lauren Price can’t wait to box in Wales with her home supporters backing her
Putting on an all-female main event at the O2 is a clear high point in 2022. But there was also a different highlight for last year when King Charles awarded her an MBE.
“I alone, Karriss, my grandfather and my aunt went up to the castle,” he said. “It was great to experience it and have my family with me.
“He was just talking to me about sport and I was talking about football for Wales and winning caps and obviously going to the Olympics. We talked for about five minutes.”
For 2023 now back to the hard work of training and boxing. “Looking at it realistically, I’d like to have six more innings and then go to eight and maybe have 10 innings by the end of the year,” Price said. “Just to get out as much as possible, five times … I don’t want to have any free time.
“We’re going to have a busy year this year.”
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