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After winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics, boxer Lauren Price received a hero’s welcome as she returned to her home town of Ystrad Mynach.

Nearly three years later, Price will be fighting in Wales for the first time as a professional, and as an MBE, when she takes on USA’s Jessica McCaskill in Cardiff on May 11.

Speaking to Caerphilly Observer ahead of the world title match-up, Price said she was excited by the prospect of fighting in front of her home crowd.

“I’m just excited, I’m looking forward to it,” she said. “As a pro so far I’ve fought all around the UK, I’ve fought in front of 20,000 on the Savannah and Shields undercard.

“I don’t know how it’s going to feel because I haven’t really been in that position before, having my own support behind me. But I’m going to take it all in, I’m going to enjoy the atmosphere and then obviously when I get to that ring and that bell goes then it’s down to business.”

“Different kind of pressure”

The fight, at Cardiff’s Utilita Arena, will be the first time Price has fought in the city for around a decade.

She said: “As an amateur I travelled around the world. When I turned pro one of the main things I wanted to do was box in Wales and bring big-time boxing back to Cardiff – we haven’t really seen that since Calzaghe.”

Price said the support has been “insane” since the fight was announced, and spoke of the “different kind of pressure” associated with headlining.

A former Cardiff City footballer before becoming a boxer, Price wants her next fight to be the first of many in the capital.

“Being Welsh, we’re a small country but when it comes to supporting our own we’re a very proud nation.”

But while Price’s family and friends will be turning out in numbers to see her fight on Welsh soil, her biggest supporter will be missing.

“I’ve got a lot of my old football friends coming and a lot of my family are going,” said Price. “But my nan’s not going, she’s going to have the dogs because she doesn’t like watching me fight.”

When Price was just three-days-old, she was taken in by her grandmother Linda and late grandfather Derek, who raised her and supported her hefty sporting ambitions.

“She’ll be in Ystrad Mynach and after the fight, I’ll go and see her and have a dinner with her on the Sunday – and celebrate in style.”

“The support’s incredible”

Price said she has supporters from across the UK coming to Cardiff to see her bout, but the support from her home town is something “very special” to her.

“There’s a guy called Phil Morris and he runs the Ystrad Mynach Facebook page, and he hypes me up on there and it gets like 2,000 likes and comments – it’s gone through the roof.

“After I’ve had a fight I’ll go into Tesco in Ystrad Mynach the next day and you’ll have the oldies congratulating me, saying ‘I watched your fight’ and this that and the other. It’s just nice to have that support and I’m very grateful and appreciate it.”

Following her Olympic success in Japan, Price was enrolled onto the new Wall of Fame at Ystrad Mynach’s Centre for Sporting Excellence, before being paraded through the town alongside Taekwondo silver-medallist Lauren Williams, from Blackwood.

Looking back at that parade, Price said: “It was overwhelming really, and I can’t really thank everyone who turned up enough.”

While competing at the Tokyo Olympics, Price couldn’t believe that people back home were tuning in to watch her fight in the middle of the night.

“There was just mad stuff going on. The letters I’d receive to my house, I had gifts, it just went bonkers – and that’s what I want now as a pro,” she said.

“I want to put big nights on in Wales and have that home support. I want to create a legacy and I’m very grateful and thankful to everyone who supported me.

“It means the world and it goes a long way to know I’ve got the Welsh army backing me.”

“I want to create a legacy”

The winner of the fight on May 11 will be crowned female world champion – an honour no Welsh woman has earned before.

“I’ve worked hard, these are the fights I want to be in,” Price said. “It’s not just as if I’m fighting for a vacant belt.

“Jessica McCaskill is a good opponent and she’s a legitimate champion. She’s been there before, so it’s a really tough fight.

“I’m just excited to put on a show. I want to create a legacy, I don’t just want this to be a one-time thing. You see what Katie Taylor’s done for Ireland, I want to do the same for Wales.”

Ahead of the fight, McCaskill, who is from Chicago, spoke of how she wants to “show [Price] what it takes to be a champion” and “steal all of her fans”.

But despite the fighting talk from her opponent, Price admitted: “None of that really phases me.

“People say mad stuff and try to build the fight out. But me, I’m quite a laid-back person.”

Price continued: “I’ve got a lot of respect for her and in the press conference in Cardiff she was respectful to me.

“I believe we don’t have to be throwing tables at each other or kicking off or making a big fuss because it is going to be an exciting fight. The fight’s going to sell itself.

“She’s a legitimate champion and when that bell goes then it’s a different story – but hopefully we can be friends and shake hands or whatever at the end and that’s that.

“But I don’t really look too much into that and I’m sure while my career goes on, I’m going to have people who chat rubbish to me and be in my face, but none of that really phases me.”

“Put on a show for the fans”

The fight will be Price’s seventh since signing a pro deal with Boxxer in 2022 – and she will be looking to maintain her 100% winning record.

Speaking about her preparations for the fight, Price said: “Each fight I’ve had step-ups, I haven’t really fought people I can just knock over – they’ve all been tough and I’ve taken steps in the right direction.

“Going into 2024 off the back of my last fight, I wanted to be in world title fights. I basically called all world champions out and said I’d fight anyone.

“Fair play to Boxxer and to Sky, they worked hard on getting the McCaskill fight over the line so I’m very grateful for that.

“Hopefully this sets me up for bigger fights, more belts, and that’s it really. My main focus now is May 11. I’ve got to get the job done in style and put a show on for the fans.”

“Icing on the cake”

After her fight on May 11, Price dreams of taking her glistening career up another level.

“The dream, I don’t know if it’s realistic, is to headline in the Principality Stadium with a fantastic fight in a few years time,” said Price.

“That would be the icing on the cake.

“We’ve seen Katie Taylor do it, so for me this is just the start and I believe I can go all the way.”

Price heaped praise on her coach Rob McCracken, who has worked with the likes of Carl Froch and Anthony Joshua.

“I’ve got a great team behind me,” Price said. “In pro boxing you need people around you that you can trust, because it is a dodgy business.

“Whatever Rob says, that’s what I go with really.”

She added: “I’m so thankful and lucky that I get to stay in Sheffield where I train. This is my home from Monday to Friday and then I’m back on the weekend.”

• Visit boxxer.com to buy tickets for Price’s fight with McCaskill for the Unified WBA, IBO, and Ring Magazine World Titles on Saturday May 11.