A Tough Time Staying Focused

In his words, Darwin Price was “born and raised in one of the top murder capitols of the United States,” St. Louis, Missouri.

“I went to elementary school in Ferguson when I was younger where Mike Brown got killed,” said Price, referring to the fatal shooting in August 2014 of an 18-year-old black man by white officer Darren Wilson which sparked racial unrest and looting. 

“After that, I moved to Berkeley, an inner city suburb of St. Louis. I started high school as a freshman at McClure North. I eventually got expelled for inciting a riot. I missed my entire sophomore year at McClure North High. It was tough trying to stay focused and not hang out with the wrong people when that was all I had around me.”

Price was on the wrong track as a teenager before taking a circuitous route to get onto the right one.

“I ran away from home, missed my entire sophomore year, returned, and then left my father's house and moved with my mother to Bel-Ridge, Missouri, to start the 10th grade over again at Normandy High," said Price. 

"My Dad would tell me, 'You're going to end up in jail or you're going to end up dead.' I wanted more out of life than just the streets and was always one of those kids who wanted to do better. What saved me was sports.” 

A Normandy security guard invited Price to run cross country and track, where he became Missouri’s first black athlete to win the “triple crown” in the large schools level. Price also went 10-1 during his brief stint as a 119-pound wrestler.

“I started wrestling for a year and then I ran track and then I did boxing at the same time when I was 15. The same year I started running track my friend got me into boxing. But in in 2016, that same friend got locked up for murder,” said Price. 

“My grades improved. I was on the front cover of Rise Magazine. I was Missouri’s first African American to win the 800 (meters), mile (1,600 meters) and two-mile (3,200 meters) runs in the history of the state meet.”

Price received a full scholarship to Grambling State University and graduated in 2012 from college in four years at the age of 21, earning a kinesiology degree. He also compiled an amateur boxing record of 120-12, losing in the finals of the U.S. Nationals at 152 pounds in 2011.

Cashing In On Success

“Pay The Price” debuted professionally in July 2013 at The Fox Theater in Redwood City, California, his fourth-round knockout being his first of nine victories (five knockouts) while competing from 138 ¼ to 143 pounds and ending with an eight-round unanimous decision over Alvaro Ortiz Diaz in November 2015.

Price won twice in 2016 to improve to 11-0 (6 KOs), an eight-round unanimous decision over Semajay Thomas in June preceding a seventh-round TKO of Javontae Starks in September. 

The victory over Thomas represented Price’s last under renowned trainer Ronnie Shields at the  Houston-area Plex Boxing Gym, the same venue where Shields guides two-division and current 160-pound titleholders Jermall Charlo and southpaw Erislandy Lara.

 A right knee injury suffered while sparring 2017 followed Price’s consecutive unanimous decisions over Hylon Williams (February) and Angel Hernandez (November) of 2017.

Price returned from a 17-month ring absence to go 3-1 (3 KOs) in 2019. Unfortunately, however, Price re-injured his knee during that December’s bout with unbeaten Malik Hawkins, resulting in a fifth-round TKO loss. 

Price recovered to end a 16-month ring absence with a one-knockdown, fifth-round stoppage of Saul Corral in April 2021. He followed that up with a victory over Jean Carlos Torres in October 2021.