(BBC) – Promoter Frank Maloney says he will have “failed” if David Price is not world champion by the end of 2013.
Price defended his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles with a second-round knockout of Matt Skelton in Liverpool on Friday.
He is already scheduled to fight former world title challenger Tony Thompson of the United States in February.
“David is head and shoulders above the domestic competition, now it’s time for the world stage,” said Maloney.
“One of the Klitschkos will retire some time next year and that will throw the whole heavyweight division open.
“Our plan is to be in a mandatory position to fight for a heavyweight world title when that happens, so we can control our own destiny.
“There’s only one real heavyweight out there at the moment and he comes from Liverpool.
“I’ve been around a long time and watched a lot of heavyweights and this guy has got everything, which is why the public are falling in love with him.”
Maloney, who guided Britain’s Lennox Lewis to the world heavyweight crown in the 1990s, also questioned the validity of Tyson Fury’s fight in Belfast on Saturday, which is being billed as a world title eliminator.
Manchester’s Fury is fighting former world title challenger Kevin Johnson, a bout Fury’s promoter Mick Hennessey says will lead to a clash with either WBC title-holder Vitali Klitschko or younger brother Wladimir, who holds the WBA, IBF and WBO belts.
