The fight, held at Liverpool Stadium, was scheduled for fifteen three-minute rounds, and in a hotly contested encounter both men traded heavy blows from the start.

[6] The Grey River Argus recorded the fight being even up to the ninth, but in the tenth round Basham landed with a left hook that put Price down for a count of nine.

[6] After the fight Basham was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm, and Price's subsequent death led to a manslaughter charge.

[7][8] Basham gained public sympathy for his plight, and he was acquitted when the magistrate in charge of the investigation concluded that the fight had been conducted "fairly and sportingly".

[4] He followed this up with wins over Young Nipper, Dick Nelson and Henri Demlen[4] before fighting for the first time at the National Sporting Club in London, beating Sid Stagg.

[9] A win over Gus Platts back in Liverpool led to Basham's first title fight, a contest against Johnny Summers for the British Welterweight belt.

Tony Lee in his 2009 book All in My Corner, states that "By 1914, Freddie Welsh, Jim Driscoll, Newport's Johnny Basham and Jimmy Wilde had all won the Lonsdale Belts outright;".

[4] Basham was posted as sergeant[11] physical training officer in the British Expeditionary Force in France, making competitive fighting difficult.

Basham was one of a group of fighters, known as 'The Famous Six', who were an elite corps of Army Physical Training Instructors under the command of Captain Bruce Logan.

[21] On 22 October 1915, a fight was arranged for the vacant EBU (European) welterweight title between Basham and Swiss fighter Albert Badoud.

[22] In 1916 Basham defended his British title for the second time, again at the National Sporting Club in Covent Garden, facing Scotsman Eddie Beattie.

[4] In December 1918, Balsham beat private A. Tierney at the British Empire and American Services Boxing Tournament held at the Royal Albert Hall.

[24] On 27 January 1919, with the war behind him, Basham was again invited to the National Sporting Club where he beat American fighter Eddie Shevlin, who was introduced as the U.S. Navy's Welterweight Champion, after 15 rounds.

[25] He followed this with a draw against American Augie Ratner[26] and then a win over London fighter Willie Farrell on 22 July in Liverpool,[27] which opened up another shot at the European Welterweight title.

[4] Lewis, who had three months prior taken the vacant British middleweight title, challenged for all three of Basham's belts, in a contest held at the Olympia in Kensington.

Gus Platts, a Sheffield fighter who had beaten Basham in Cardiff in 1911, was the present holder of both the British and European Middleweight titles, having won them respectively from Tom Gummer and Ercole de Balzac earlier in the year.