TONY THOMPSON will be fighting to save his boxing career when he collides with British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion David Price this weekend.
The top ten ranked pair clash over 12 rounds in Price’s (15-0) backyard at Liverpool’s Echo Arena on Saturday night.
Thompson (36-2) lost in six rounds to Wladimir Klitschko last summer – his second defeat in world championship challenges against the number one heavyweight.
And he doesn’t need reminding where his career will be if Price inflicts a second consecutive loss on the Washington DC southpaw.
Thompson, 41, said “This is my last chance saloon, but I don’t have to say that.
“It is clear and the only way I can change that is to win.
“I started boxing as a club fighter, but I am not going to finish my career that way.
“The fire is still there because I find it hard coming to grips knowing that if I lose to Price I have to quit.
“To stay on this big stage, I have to beat big time boxers like Price.”
Thompson claims he under-performed when he lost to Klitschko last summer, having gone 11 rounds in their first meeting back in July 2008.
There have been several changes in his team and he is in Britain with new trainers Carlos Diez and Charlie Mooney – a 1976 Olympic bantamweight silver medallist.
Thompson added: “I never got into the second Klitschko fight mentally. People are used to seeing me aggressive in the ring and I never got to that point.
“I had my kids with me and I was more a father than a fighter that day.
“I have left them at home for this fight and there’s new voices in the corner that believe in me and will push me.
A stacked bill sees Darren Hamilton (12-2) put his British light-welterweight crown on the line against another Liverpool fighter, Steve Williams (13-1).
Kevin Satchell (9-0) risks his British and Commonwealth flyweight titles against in-form Belfast man Luke Wilton (13-2-1)
Adil Anwar (18-1) who hopes to challenge the winner also boxes Welsh hopeful Lance Sheehan (5-1) over ten rounds.
Others boxers on the bill includes David Burke (26-2), Sean Dodd (4-0), Louis Cuddy (6-0), Neil Perkins (2-0), Steven Lewis (2-0), Andy Colquhoun (5-0) and Peter Gallagher (1-0).
Tickets can be purchased £230 (VIP including meal and inner ringside seat), £95 (Ringside), £70 and £40 at www.echoarena.com www.frankmaloney.com or 0844 8000 400.
The show will be broadcast live by the home of boxing BoxNation (Sky 437/Virgin 546). Join now atwww.boxnation.com. WealthTV will be broadcasting the card live in the United States.
