Lauren Price Brings World Championship Boxing Back to Cardiff — But Shields Showdown Stays on Ice
WALES will once again take centre stage in women’s world championship boxing when Lauren Price returns to Cardiff to defend her world welterweight titles on Friday, November 20. But while a formidable Czech challenger stands between the undefeated Welsh star and another victory, an even bigger international confrontation could be waiting just around the corner.
The Olympic gold medallist from Ystrad Mynach will face Michaela Kotaskova at the Utilita Arena Cardiff, putting her WBA, WBC and IBF world titles on the line in front of her home supporters.
The contest will be shown live on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, offering boxing fans throughout Britain the opportunity to watch one of Wales’ most successful sporting champions without a subscription.
It will be Price’s first appearance since her points victory over Puerto Rican challenger Stephanie Piñeiro Aquino in Cardiff in April, which extended her unbeaten professional record to 10 victories.
Kotaskova, however, is no pushover. The Czech-born boxer, who has built her career in Austria, has lost just once in 15 professional contests. Her only defeat came against another established world champion, Chantelle Cameron, earlier this year.
For Price, the opportunity to perform on Welsh soil carries special significance. The 32-year-old has repeatedly spoken about the inspiration she draws from home support, and another successful defence would strengthen her position among the outstanding female boxers in the world.
Yet the November encounter may prove to be just the opening act in a much bigger story.
Across the Atlantic, American boxing superstar Claressa Shields has long been linked with a potential confrontation against Price. The two-time Olympic champion from Flint, Michigan, is widely regarded as one of the greatest female boxers of all time, having captured world championships across multiple weight divisions.
The pair even came face to face in the ring following Price’s victory over Piñeiro Aquino in April, fuelling speculation about a spectacular Wales-versus-America showdown.
However, negotiations have failed to produce an agreement, with Price revealing that the proposed arrangements did not make financial or sporting sense from her perspective. Although she has not ruled out eventually meeting Shields, she has confirmed that the American will not be her next opponent.
Instead, Price has hinted at another potentially enormous contest early in 2027, with speculation inevitably turning towards a possible undisputed welterweight championship showdown with American Mikaela Mayer, who holds the WBO title.
Such a contest could bring together all four major world championship belts and provide Price with an opportunity to become undisputed champion of her division.
For now, though, Kotaskova stands directly in her path, and the Welsh champion will be determined to avoid any upset in front of her home supporters.
Price’s rise to boxing superstardom is all the more extraordinary because boxing was not her only sporting passion.
Born in Newport and raised in the Caerphilly area, she was an accomplished kickboxer and a talented footballer who represented Wales internationally and played for Cardiff City.
As a youngster, she famously set herself three sporting ambitions: to become a world kickboxing champion, play football for Wales and compete at the Olympic Games.
Remarkably, she achieved all three.
Her crowning amateur achievement came at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, staged in 2021, when she defeated China’s Li Qian to become the first Welsh boxer, male or female, to win Olympic gold.
Having already won Commonwealth and world amateur titles, she turned professional in 2022 and rapidly established herself among boxing’s elite.
In May 2024, she became Wales’ first female professional boxing world champion when she defeated Jessica McCaskill in Cardiff, before adding further world championship belts with victory over Natasha Jonas at London’s Royal Albert Hall in March 2025.
Now she has the opportunity to add another memorable chapter to an outstanding Welsh sporting story.
There will be further Welsh interest on the November undercard, with Rhondda featherweight Rhys Edwards taking on Scotland’s former European champion Lee McGregor, while unbeaten middleweight Kyran Jones, from Tir y Berth, is also scheduled to appear against Liverpool’s Sean Arkwright.
For Welsh boxing supporters, November 20 promises another special evening, while the following day brings an international rugby encounter between Wales and Australia in Cardiff.
And if Lauren Price can successfully defend her world championship belts, the prospect of an even bigger occasion in 2027 raises the tantalising possibility of a major stadium fight in the Welsh capital.
Having already conquered the Olympic Games and established herself among the world’s elite professionals, Wales’ golden girl is still looking for new mountains to climb.
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DID EWE KNOW?
Before becoming an Olympic champion, Lauren Price helped fund her sporting ambitions by working night shifts as a taxi driver for her grandparents’ business. While pursuing her boxing dream, she spent Friday and Saturday nights driving customers around south Wales, sometimes finishing at four in the morning. It was a rather different route to sporting glory than most Olympic champions experience!