Olympic bronze medal winner David Price (21-4, 18 KOs) had long predicted that IBF, IBO, WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua would demolish WBC champion Deontay Wilder.

But, that is no longer his opinion on the fight.

After watching their most recent performances, Price admits that his entire perception of what would happen in that fight has completely changed.

Not only does Price no longer view the contest as a one-sided wipeout - he believes Wilder is more than capable of beating Joshua.

Earlier this month, Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs) destroyed former champion Bermane Stiverne in the first round. Stiverne, who was the only boxer to go the full distance with Wilder in 2015, went down three times before the fight was waved off.

Late last month, Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) had his share of issues in securing what some felt was a controversial stoppage of mandatory challenger Carlos Takam in the tenth round.

The stage is now set for a huge unification between the two punchers - but nobody knows when or if it will happen.

“For what it’s worth, before I watched Joshua against Takam, I fancied Joshua to wipe the floor with Wilder. But now I think Wilder at long range would beat Joshua to the punch. Joshua’s mid range and close range work is brilliant. But at length he doesn’t seem to get his shots off as quickly and I think Wilder would be in with a good chance of knocking him out,” Price said to Boxing News.

“Not only that, Anthony Joshua is a textbook boxer and conventional textbook fighters are easier to read unlike Deontay Wilder, who will do things out of the ordinary that you’re not expecting. He does things bit unorthodox. If you’ve been fighting decent level fighters who do everything as textbook, it’s quite easy to read. You throw a jab, then you throw a right hand. You see it coming. You read it a bit quicker then what Deontay Wilder does with them mad swings especially. Interesting all the same. I think Wilder could beat him. That’s just my opinion.”

Price was actually in the running to fight Joshua. They had the back story set, with Price dropping and seriously hurting Joshua during a sparring session several years ago when the unified champ was still an amateur.

Those plans were shelved when Price was knocked out in February by Christian Hammer. Price is scheduled to make his return on December 2 in Brentwood.