Olympics: Price Knuckles Down to Guarantee Himself a Medal

"At the end of the day, we're all just working-class lads, like," said David Price two months ago. "We're all, like, scallies going to Beijing to fight on the telly. On our down time, we'll go out and have a drink, have a laugh, like. We're just normal lads."

Price was talking when these Olympics were dreams built on ambition, some of it over-ambition. Last night in a noisy, sweaty corridor adjoining the Workers' Gymnasium, two wins away from an Olympic gold medal after another quick win, this time over the Lithuanian Jaroslav Jaksto, the super-heavyweight was sounding considerably more businesslike.

"It was a great feeling, obviously, even if it was a bit of an anticlimax," he said. "That was real sweet for me."

Price, 6ft 8in, rocked Jaksto, nearly as tall, with a right in the first round that did not score a point, then was given a score with a second, slightly lighter shot. It was the first one, though, that did the damage. Taking the shot, Jaksto twisted awkwardly and, apparently, pulled a back muscle. The head coach, Terry Edwards, gave the British team captain a slap on the rump to go out for the start of round two - but no further combat was needed. Jaksto was limping heavily on his left leg and withdrew. It was the sort of anticlimax anyone would settle for on the way towards a medal in an Olympic Games.

Price, whose punching power has been increasing by the contest over the past year or so and stopped the Russian world No1, Islam Timurziev, with two heavy rights in his first bout, has held this squad together through all the ups and downs of tournament boxing. It has not been easy. It never is.

Denied a medal at the world championships in Chicago last November when he broke his hand just short of the quarter-finals, Price is guaranteed a bronze no matter the result against the classy Italian Roberto Cammarelle in the semi-finals on Friday evening.

It is a prospect that fills the Liverpudlian with glee. It is as if he has hardly got out of the blocks. Jaksto was never in it. The Lithuanian finished out of the medals in Athens and at the world championships. He had an easy route here, outpointing the Nigerian Onoriode Ohwarieme 11-1. It showed. There was not much in it height wise, but Price had the edge in power and a big right was the highlight of a first round he took 3-1.

Cammarelle, who won the world title last November and bronze in Athens four years ago, is a dyed-in-the-wool amateur who would struggle to sell tickets as a professional, but he knows how to win.

Last night he was having an easy time of it against the shorter Colombian Oscar Rivas until caught with a shot that stopped him in his tracks in the last round. He did enough to dance his man to the finish line for a 9-5 win - but he is vulnerable.