Welsh boxing star Lauren Price faces 'biggest test yet' against American champion
Welsh Olympian Lauren Price is set for her seventh professional fight against Jessica McCaskill after outclassing Silvia Bortot in December and is bidding to become Wales' first women's world champion
Lauren Price plays it cool. The boxer has earned that right.
The 29-year-old has stepped up to world class in her seventh professional boxing fight as she faces former undisputed world champion Jessica McCaskill at Cardiff ’s Utilita Arena this Saturday. The American’s WBA and Ring Magazine welterweight titles, as well an IBO title, are up for grabs, as is the chance to become Wales’ first women's boxing world champion and doing so in front of a home crowd.
Price's confidence is supreme and unflapped. The Olympic gold medallist has imagined this moment for years and knows the contours of how it ends. So she wants her walk-on song to be a surprise. “It’s definitely Welsh,” she tells the Mirror. But any further details will spoil the surprise. And if Price wants to do anything come Saturday night, it's to land as many surprises as possible.
McCaskill – 39 and boasting 12 wins, three draws and only one loss in her career – knows the mercurial black magic that is a hungry tyro with nothing to lose. In 2021 it was McCaskill – a then-35-year-old investment banker moonlighting as a boxer – who dethroned Cecilia Brækhus, the undisputed welterweight champion widely regarded as the sport’s pound-for-pound world No 1, by majority decision. If some critics posited that the margins were too narrow, McCaskill fought and beat Brækhus again the following year.
The fight was one heard around the world, and one McCaskill, fighting a remarkable 11th consecutive world title fight come Saturday, views as another example of the "levels" which distinguish her and Price. But Price insists such upsets of the landscape are all part of the sport’s natural life cycle. Eventually those who topple get toppled. And so on.
"She can say what she wants, it’s going to be a great fight because she brings the best out of me," Price said. "I've been comfortable in my professional career winning every round and I believe I’ll box well against her and I’ll win.
"Obviously she is going to turn it into a war and I need to stick to my boxing and do what I do best. I'm 100% confident and I 100% believe that I will come out victorious on May 11. I have a lot of respect for what she’s done in her career and she’s a legitimate champion but I believe that I'll come out on top.”
Price has reason to feel confident. The former footballer turned kick-boxing champion turned taxi driver turned Olympic gold medallist has taken to life as a professional boxer with the characteristic aplomb that defined her previous exploits.
Price has only fought six professional fights but has won every round she's contested, including her shutout victory over Kirstie Bavington to become the inaugural women's British champion last year. Price has looked so effortlessly imperious that the general consensus is she's yet to tap anywhere close to the finished article of her potential boxing evolution arc.
“This is definitely my toughest test but it’s nothing that I’ve not seen before,” says Price, who insists her Olympic background will serve as an advantage. “The amateurs are different but I’ve been in the ring with 75-kilo Russians running at me and I’ve come out on top. So I’ve experienced all styles of boxing, that’s one of the great aspects of being a top amateur and going to the Olympics.”
She adds: “The blueprint for McCaskill, you see what she’s about in all of her fights. She’s going to try to rough me up, drag me into a fight, make it a tear-up. It’s down to me to stick to my boxing and outbox her and make it as easy for myself as I can. I can't see her outboxing me. If anything it's better for me, her charging at me and me picking my shots and going from there."
While Price might have come up against similar styles, McCaskill’s pedigree is certainly something she’s yet to experience. As is fighting in front of a home crowd.
Price received a hero’s welcome when she returned to her home town of Ystrad Mynach for the first time after winning the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics. Now, she hopes to entice that same crowd ringside with her first homecoming since turning professional.
“I want to bring big nights back to Cardiff,” she says. “Since I turned professional, that’s been one of my biggest goals. Obviously once the bell goes, I block everything out. But that’s how I’ve been brought up from a boxing point of view, never listen to the crowd. She [McCaskill] is coming into the Dragon’s Den.
“It’s going to be a special night and I’m excited more than anything. This is just the start.”
That’s the sentiment from many considering the ramifications of Saturday’s fight. A first defeat for Price in her professional career wouldn’t bring devastation. The opportunity to learn and evolve is there. Yet, victory would supercharge everything. Whatever Price’s mooted ceiling is currently, augment that by one hundred.
“I don’t look at anyone’s opinion, good or bad. I get what he’s saying but I believe I’m going to win this fight, that’s the only mentality I’ve got.”
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