LAUREN WILL PUNCH FOR GLORY AND HOPE TO DELIVER GB’S FINAL GOLD
BY THE quirks of Olympic boxing, Lauren Price fights on. The manner of her victory over an old rival was complicated and perhaps even a little bizarre, but the most relevant point is also a simple one — she will punch for gold tomorrow. If she pulls it off, which will require the careful handling of a former world champion in Li Quan of China, it will be the final gold medal won by the wider Team GB ensemble in Japan. A hard task for a big prize, certainly, but her place in this middleweight final falls in line with expectations for the world No 1 from Wales, who has long been seen as the arrowhead of Rob McCracken’s exceptional British boxing programme. Li, the second seed, will be an awfully tough opponent, and one who arrives at speed after winning three bouts for the loss of no rounds. But in picking a favourite, most would lean marginally towards Price, the current world champion, even if her semi-final win over Nouchka Fontijn was hard-earned and harder to decipher. That the right woman won is not contested, and it drew no protest from Fontijn, but the mechanism of ruling it a split decision in her favour even had some British team staff in a state of confusion. In essence, one of the five
judges scored it a 29-27 win for Price, two went with Fontijn by 29-27 and two called it a 28-28 draw. That latter two were then required by the rules to choose a ‘preferred winner’ and both went with Price for a 3-2 victory. When the verdict was announced after three close rounds, Price, 27, screamed ‘Come on’ and lapped the ring. ‘I am over the moon to be in the final,’ she said. ‘It has been a dream of mine to get to the Olympic Games, become an Olympian, and to get a medal, I can’t quite believe it. I am into the final now and it is a dream come true. I am not stopping now — my aim is to win that gold. I’m going to give it my all.’ There is no shared history between Price and Li, which is starkly different from her relationship with Fontijn. They had fought six times before, with the Dutchwoman 4-2 ahead, though the most recent went Price’s way, causing something of a stir. That is because it was for the world title in 2019, which Fontijn was initially awarded by split decision. Britain appealed and two hours later it was overturned, giving Price a world gold to go with titles at European and Commonwealth level, on the back of her previous careers as a Wales footballer, a world champion kickboxer and, briefly, a taxi driver. Prior to arriving in Tokyo, that world gold ranked as the high point in an interesting life, but it also infuriated Fontijn, which teed up this rematch rather nicely. Fontijn, the silver medallist at Rio 2016, started rapidly and shaded the first, but Price hit her stride in the second, even with the loss of a point for excessive holding. Through the third round, top seed Price was clearly faster of foot and hand and largely in control against a significantly taller opponent. ‘I had to stop looking at my phone before this fight because of the number of tweets I have had talking about the number of times we have faced each other, the Europeans, worlds, everything,’ Price said. ‘It is always the same with me and her — I dug deep in that last round. Happy days.’ On to the final, and the uncertainty around it comes from Price and Li having never fought before, which adds a veil of mystery in a sport that places a premium on such knowledge. Price added: ‘She is a good girl. She won the worlds (in 2018) and she is similar to my style — fast hands, fast feet. It is going to be interesting. World No 1 against No 2 seed in the final.’ With four boxing medals already won by Britain and Galal Yafai fighting for gold today, Price will take the haul to six, a post-war record. Only the colour is to be decided.