Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom hailed ‘superstar’ Lauren Price after the Welshwoman outclassed Jessica McCaskill in Cardiff to become the new WBA, IBO and Ring Magazine welterweight champion. In front of a partisan home crowd, the 29-year-old was on the front foot from the first bell against the American, with the speed of her glove-work too much for her opponent who was warned in the earlier rounds for trying to hold Price and slowing the pace down.
An accidental clash of heads in the fifth left McCaskill, 39, with a nasty cut above her left eye, and following the eighth round, having been assessed by the ringside doctor, she was deemed unable to continue.
Referee Michael Alexander duly went to the judges’ scorecards, with all three scoring it 90-82 in favour of Price, continuing her remarkable run of never having lost a round in her seven-fight professional career.
The night at the Utilita Arena added to what is already a fairytale career story for Price, who won 52 caps for the Welsh Women’s football team, and four world kickboxing titles, before opting to focus on her boxing career.
“I’m excited,” Shalom told Express Sport afterwards. “What excites me most is when a star is born. When she signed and debuted with us I didn’t think it would all happen this quickly. We had the vision we could do it, but in seven fights? Its unbelievable.”
After her win Price, who was brought up in Ystrad Mynach with her grandparents and has regularly cited her grandmother and late grandfather as the inspirations behind her sporting career, immediately targeted fighting at the Principality Stadium. And Shalom believes it’s a realistic goal after her dynamic display in the Welsh capital.
“She mentions all the time what Katie Taylor has done for boxing and what she’s done for Ireland and she can emulate that. She can do that for boxing here in Wales. She’s a a superstar and she’s special.
