Lauren Price wants to sellout Principality Stadium after world title win
Boxer Lauren Price says said she wants to create a legacy for Welsh boxing and have her fights sellout the Principality Stadium.
The 29-year-old became Wales' first female world champion after outclassing her opponent, Jessica McCaskill, at Cardiff's Utility Arena.
She claimed the IBO, WBA and Ring Magazine welterweight world titles on Saturday evening.
The 2020 Olympic champion won every round on the judges' cards, with the contest being brought to a halt in the ninth round on the advice of ringside medics after McCaskill sustained a nasty swollen eye from a clash of heads earlier in the fight.
In her post fight interview with Sky Sports Price said that "The pros are different to the amateurs, but I enjoyed myself in there.
"I'm only going to get better, this is only my seventh professional fight. I'm still learning but I believe I can go all the way.
To rapturous applause and cheers from the crowd Price added, "you see Katie Taylor for Ireland and I want to do the same for Wales. The dream is I'd love to be in a few years selling out the Principality, that's the dream.
In a previous interview with ITV Wales, Price insisted it’s her time to achieve greatness as she had bid to become the first Welsh female boxer to win a world title.
"Turning over as Olympic champion, people expect you to move fast after the pedigree [I’ve shown] in the amateurs.
"I just feel like it’s my time now. I’ve got a great team behind me in Rob and as long as he feels like I’m ready, believes in me and I believe in myself, then that’s all that matters.
"I’m ready. I’m excited."
Her fight against McCaskill was her first fight as a professional on home soil.
As one of Wales’ most decorated athletes she is taking the professional boxing world by storm, but her life could have gone a different way.
When she was three days old, her parents decided they were unable to care for her. So her grandparents took her in and raised her. Eventually, Derek and Linda became her inspiration.
Reflecting on her childhood, she told ITV Wales: “I’ve got two sisters and a brother - sadly he passed away a few months back. I was brought up by my grandparents, who are two amazing people.
“If it wasn’t for them, I would have probably ended up in care. My brother and sisters didn’t have the best of upbringing.
“But I was the lucky one who got away and I was loved very dearly by two people. They’ve always supported me over the years. It cost thousands to send me away to tournaments.”
Growing up in Bargoed, Price was a sporting prodigy.
In school, she cited three ambitions playing football for Wales, becoming a kickboxing world champion and going to the Olympic games. She ticked all three of her ambitions.
She also captained the Wales under-19s football team and earned her first senior cap in 2012. Price kickboxed alongside football and became a four-time world champion, before giving both up to focus on boxing.
Price’s crowning moment to date came at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. She went in as favourite and delivered the goods.
It concluded an emphatic run of competition that saw her sweep golds at the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and European Games before conquering all in Japan.
Price started her pro career in the same emphatic style that she ended her amateur one.
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