By Mark Staniforth

Fate has decreed that Scarborough heavyweight Danny Price will be no more than an interested spectator when his former amateur team-mates take pride of place in the London 2012 Olympics next summer.

Price knew his push to reach the Games had effectively come to an end when he was relegated from the Great Britain podium squad after a disappointing defeat in the European Championships in June.

It signalled the end of a colourful amateur career for Price, in which he won two ABA heavyweight titles and missed out on qualifying for the Beijing Olympics by a single point.

Turning professional was an inevitability for Price, and he wasted no time in signing terms with Frank Maloney, who is also masterminding the careers of his namesake David, plus Beijing bronze medallist Tony Jeffries.

Price said: "I signed for Frank on the recommendation of my old team-mates. I felt comfortable after I met him. The first 18 months of my career will be a learning curve, but within two years I will be British champion."

Never regarded as an explosive puncher, Price is instead regarded as an intelligent, patient fighter who clearly possesses the temperament and adaptability required to be a success in the paid ranks.

And, campaigning initially at least in the cruiserweight division, there is little else out there to pose a significant threat to his desire be crowned British champion within his stated timeframe.

Price made his professional debut in low-key fashion in Bolton in October, when he stopped hapless Slovenian Michal Tomko with 41 seconds remaining in the opening round.

He was given a better test in his second fight in Peterlee in December, when he won all four rounds on the judges' cards against Zimbabwe's Hastings Rasani, a veteran of 92 professional fights.

Never the type to join some of his former amateur team-mates in shouting their future greatness from the rooftops, a professional start away from the limelight is exactly how Price will have liked it.

He has plenty of time and certainly enough talent to ease relatively anonymously up the rankings and take the domestic cruiserweight crown. At the point, Price may have to grudgingly come to terms with the fact that he is no longer domestic boxing's best kept secret.

Mark Staniforth covers boxing for PA Sport.