Lauren Price survived the toughest test of her professional career to retain her three welterweight world titles with a unanimous points victory over Stephanie Pineiro.
Price held on to her WBA, WBC and IBF belts by comfortable margins of 98-92, 98-92, 99-91 on the three judges’ scorecards, but the 31-year-old was a bloody mess by the end of the 10-round contest in Cardiff.
The unbeaten Welsh fighter suffered a nasty mouth injury with blood dripping heavily from it from the fifth round, Price claiming at the end of the contest that her lip was cut by a clash of heads.
Pineiro is known as ‘The Medicine’ but Price – who had arguably not lost a round in her nine-fight professional career – dug deep in her biggest examination to keep her belts.
Four-weight world champion Claressa Shields was ringside with the American in talks to meet Price either later this year or in early 2027.
Price was back on Welsh soil for the first time since winning her maiden world title against Jessica McCaskill in May 2024.
Boxing politics had kept Price of the ring for over a year after her comfortable points victory over Natasha Jonas at the Royal Albert Hall.
Wales’ first female world champion said she could have returned to the grand scene of that all-British affair, but her desire was to put on big shows in her homeland.
Price had warned Pineiro would be stepping into the Dragons’ Den – a point underlined as the Tokyo Olympic gold medallist made her entrance to Dafydd Iwan’s Welsh anthem ‘Yma O Hyd’ and a crescendo of noise at the Utilita Arena.
But southpaw Pineiro – unbeaten in 10 fights and Price’s WBA mandatory challenger – was determined to join the pantheon of Puerto Rican boxing greats which include Miguel Cotto, Tito Trinidad, Ivan Calderon and Amanda Serrano.
Both boxers were patient in the opening round with Price keen to work behind a strong jab and Pineiro also settling in to her rhythm.
Price showed flashes of her speed in the second stanza with accurate two and three-punch combinations and Pineiro stumbled after taking a straight right at the end of the third.
Pineiro was not slow to come forward but Price was far quicker to the punch, leaving a bruise under the Puerto Rican’s left eye.
There was concern for Price in the fifth as blood poured from her gaping mouth, offering Pineiro real hope of creating an upset.
The damage appeared to stir Price into furious action in the sixth, but her all-white outfit was splattered in blood by the end of the seventh.
Pineiro was clearly fancying her chances but Price continued to move well and throw good shots.
Despite Price’s damaged appearance, the outcome was not in doubt.
