Philadelphia bantamweight up-and-comer Dylan “The Real Dill” Price (Photo by Joseph Santoliquito/RingTV.com)
PHILADELPHIA — Dylan Price wants 2024 to be his big year, his coming out year. The unbeaten 25-year-old bantamweight boxer from Sixlerville, New Jersey, a Philadelphia suburb, is ranked No. 8 at 118 in the IBF rankings and will face Ernesto Elias this Saturday in the main event of Artie Peluro's Banner Promotions presentation at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine.
Price (18-0, 12 knockouts) will be fighting for the first time under Banner.
“I can definitely say that I am truly blacklisted in the sport of boxing because my talent is undeniable,” Price said. “It's frustrating. In boxing, it's not all about winning. I know I'm blacklisted after leaving Mayweather Promotions and I've seen the fighters I trained make millions of dollars. It's frustrating. I trained Devin Haney, Shakur Stevenson, Teofimo Lopez and Ryan Garcia and I feel I am just as talented as them.
“I don't play games. I'm not anybody's puppet. You can't deny talent. When an opportunity comes, you can't be denied. I'm ready to kick down the door this year, so it's frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for all my guys. They've worked so hard to get to where they are, I'm proud of them. I just want a chance, that's it. If you work hard and you win, the only thing you can show for it in boxing is that it's not going anywhere.”
Price has already fought twice this year. Perlo's Banner Promotions is the well-established company that has promoted Ruslan Provodnikov, four-time two-weight world champion Acelino “Popo” Freitas, one of the most popular boxers in Brazilian boxing history, former WBO junior middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade and former WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog.
“I'm not going to blame the politics of boxing that have plagued us. We made some bad decisions,” said David Price, Dylan's father and trainer. “Some decisions we shouldn't have made. We're grateful for where we are. Hopefully this is the start of something good for Artie. I like Artie and I hear good things about Artie. Hopefully this is the start of something good.”
“I think Artie's going to get us where we want to go. I know Dylan is annoyed with all the politics. I'm not. I'm not going to blame it all on the politics of sports.”
Price defeated Argentina's Ernesto Sebastian Franzolini in two rounds at Temple University's Liacoras Center on April 27. Price has won three of his previous four bouts against Franzolini by decision.
“Right now it's just a matter of persevering and working hard and building,” David Price said.
For Price, the answer is to keep winning.
Joseph Santoliquito is a Hall of Fame and award-winning sportswriter who has worked for Ring Magazine/RingTV.com since October 1997 and also serves as president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Follow @JSantoliquito
