• David Price v Tony Thompson

Price confident Lewis tips will reap rewards

Heavyweight David Price believes the advice of former world champion Lennox Lewis will ensure he exacts revenge against Tony Thompson this weekend.

Price returns to Liverpool's Echo Arena on Saturday, looking to make amends for his shock defeat to Tony Thompson at the same venue back in February - the first loss of his professional career.

Price was knocked out in surprising circumstances in the second round on that occasion, having already appeared to have taken control of the contest. Eager to avoid a repeat upset and get his career back on track, Price has turned to Lewis for advice.

Price believes Lewis' direction - both in terms of technique and mental preparation - has made a huge difference to his approach.

"It's been refreshing for me," Price told ESPN. "He's mixed things up in training a little bit and it's inspiring to have such a great former champion working with you every day and it makes you push yourself that little bit more and bring the best out of you. So I'm getting that little bit more every session really.

"It's been good having him round just to bounce things off as well actually."

Price is under no illusions about how important the upcoming fight is for his career, with a victory likely to put him back on the fast-track to a world title fight but a defeat perhaps leaving his career in tatters.

He added: "It is a massive night for me, there's a lot on the line for me and there's no denying that I'm well aware how big a fight it is.

"I'm just going to have to keep cool and try and view it as any other fight I've had in the past because every fight I've had has been a must win fight since I've turned professional."

Thompson, meanwhile, insists he feels "great" heading into his second meeting with Price, although he expects to be confronted by a completely different fighter second time around.

"I think David is an action fighter and you can't change that too much but I think Lennox is going to bring a bit more professionalism to his approach which can only help him," Thompson said. "You can't just blast everybody out with big right hands which I proved because he hit me with some big right hands and I shrugged them off and I kept coming.

"So I think Lennox is going to teach him the aspect of going in with a game plan and sticking with a game plan so long as it's working."

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