Sunny Edwards Frustrated’ As He Waits For Galal Yafai
Sunny Edwards says he’s frustrated as he waits to secure his next fight.
Edwards is expected to fight Galal Yafai in November and if he wins, he would challenge for the WBC flyweight title in 2025. Although Yafai is expected to be his next fight, Edwards says he’s frustrated that it is taking so long to book.
“Everyone knows the fight they’re trying to make,” the 28-year-old Edwards told BoxingScene. “Former [amateur] opponent, Olympic gold medallist, Galal Yafai, and after that it looks like the only really logical explanation would be the winner of Kenshiro Teraji versus Cristofer Rosales. That looks like my two next fights, and I’d be happy. After coming off a loss against the best fighter in the division – top five, pound for pound – going against a former world champion in Curiel, then Olympic gold medallist in Galal, then it’s a world champion in Rosales or Teraji. I just want the challenges. I don’t need a perfect record or for everyone to think I’m good at boxing. I just need to find a ring to go and fight in.
“They’ve mentioned November; they’ve mentioned one place where they want it. We haven’t got to the nitty gritty of getting things over the line just yet – I’m not sure what the hold up is; hopefully sooner rather than later… – [but] he’s the only name that has been mentioned to me. Which is fine by me,” Edwards added.
Although Sunny Edwards says he and Galal Yafai are friends, it is a fight he ants. Yafai won Olympic gold in 2021, which Edwards never had the chance to do, so he says the goal is to beat him and show everyone he could have won Olympic gold.
“The way my mind’s been is I beat him in the amateurs… I got on [Team] GB the weekend after Galal did. I beat him that year to get there. In that time of us training on the same squad together I felt very comfortable in sparring, and I can remember some of the things that some of the coaches said during those sparring sessions. After my four months on the squad I made a very quick and obvious observation of what was going on around me. A fighter that I had beat no less than six months ago had been sent to five different tournaments, WSB internationals – five – while I was waiting for my first trip out of the blocks.
“From that moment I felt like the system was against me. ‘Another place where my face don’t fit.’ It happened on England as well. But winning the ABAs, and in my opinion dancing on everyone in sparring, I thought would be enough to [overcome] those forces against me. Even though Galal’s a friend of mine, and I do actually like him, the moment he turned over, the message from me has been simple. ‘Whenever they’re ready for the fight, they’ll get it, because that’s my Olympic gold medal on his head. That I should have had and never got the opportunity, because my face didn’t fit.’”
Sunny Edwards is 21-1 as a pro and coming off a win over Adrien Curiel after losing by stoppage to Jesse Rodriguez.
