Tony Thompson believes drugs use should be allowed in sport

British heavyweight champion David Price's next opponent Tony Thompson believes doping in sport should be legalised because "only the good guys are following the rules".

Two-time world title challenger Thompson, 41, faces Price in Liverpool on Saturday.

"I think they should allow doping, period, because for me it's like the gun law," he told 5 live Breakfast.

"Only the good guys are listening. It leaves the good guys without the guns."

However, he added: "It's an issue of choice; I would never want to be doing anything to alter my body down the road anyway.

"My son plays football and basketball and the last thing I want to do is inject him with anything that's going to alter his natural body rhythm. Same with myself; I don't even like to take Aspirin."

Price, interviewed alongside Thompson on BBC Breakfast, said legalising drug use could have "catastrophic consequences".

"It is worrying and concerning that people out there are using drugs to enhance their performance, especially in boxing. It is not a level playing field at all if one person is on drugs," the 29-year-old said.

"Prevention is better than cure and if we are putting people off the thought of doing it, then that is the way forward."

British Boxing Board of Control secretary Robert Smith told the Daily Telegraph: "It's mindblowing that a fighter who has challenged twice for the world title can come out with something like this.

"I felt sickened, to be honest, when I heard the comments.

"People are entitled to their view, but [on Wednesday] the Boxing Board held a UK Anti-Doping seminar at the Institute for Sport in Sheffield for all the UK licence holders - managers, promoters, trainers - outlining the dangers of drugs, and how it is being tackled in sport."

Smith added: "I'm sure everyone would expect him to be tested now, whether he himself is clean or not, before and after the fight."

Price, the super heavyweight bronze medallist at the 2008 Olympics, has won all 15 of his fights as a professional, including 13 by knockout.

Thompson, who has said Saturday's fight could be his last, has lost just three of his 39 fights, with two of those coming in world title bouts against Wladimir Klitschko.