“Right now, I’m ticking over,’ said one of Matchroom’s most recent signings, IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards. “I should have something by the end of this week. I’ve been half told, so imminently I should know. I’ve been in the gym. I’ve been training. I’ve been sparring. I’ve been helping other lads from all over get ready for fights so I’m in a good place, my weight’s not too heavy. I’m really eight-10 weeks away from fighting anyone in the world.”
Sunny Edwards Awaits Next Fight
Edwards, 19-0 with four stoppages, last boxed in Sheffield in November, outscoring Nicaraguan Felix Alvarado to defend his title.
Subsequently, he’s continued to be linked to bouts with Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and Julio Cesar Martinez, but ‘Bam’ broke his jaw against Christian Hernandez earlier in the month and is likely to be side-lined for months.
Bouts with Rodriguez and Martinez Unlikely for Edwards
WBC champ Martinez boxes on the Canelo-Ryder bill in May, but Edwards wants to be active sooner rather than later, so his schedule does not match up with either Rodriguez or Martinez.
“The way I see it right now, without confirmation, is that ‘Bam’s’ out probably to the back end of the year if not next year depending on how surgery goes,” Edwards added. “Martinez is fighting in May. Obviously he’s got an opponent so the earliest, earliest he’s going to want to fight is probably September. That will probably be a push. So really he’s not in my timeline. I’ve not fought this year so really I need to fight June-July at the latest so unfortunately, looking at the two fights I want more than anything, they won’t be for my next one, but hopefully being signed to Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Sport, we can get a plan put together that makes it that maybe my next fight isn’t the big fight but the next one after that is guaranteed, where it gets announced and it’s already made. Hopefully that’s the reality, but like I’ve always been, I’m still waiting on the opponent.”
Inactivity Not Familiar for Sunny Edwards
Inactivity is not something Edwards has been familiar with over the years. His next fight will be his first for Matchroom after success with Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren over the years.
“Last year, I had three world title fights in 11 months and I thought that was a good amount of activity,” Edwards continued. “If I can get two big fights, three fights a year, I’m happy with that. I’m at a time where I don’t have to rush back in the ring at every given opportunity, so I can sit between a fight for a month or two and really try to make the big fights happen. It’s frustrating, because it doesn’t always happen, but that’s usually the intention. I’m usually quite ready to fight, but it’s trying to hold out and trying to make the fights happen behind the scenes that usually has me a bit more inactive than not. If you look at the list that went around boxing last week, I’m the fifth most active world champion in world boxing, so it’s not that I’ve been inactive throughout my career, it’s been that sometimes things behind the scenes happen where the fights don’t come just as quick as you’d like them… you might get a little injury… you might not be able to get the date you want… you might not be able to get the opponent you want… and when you’re fighting for world titles and at world level, you’re trying to unify or go undisputed, or planning weight changes, or getting confirmations from governing bodies… sometimes at world level it’s a bit more complicated than it was making a six or eight round in York Hall coming up [through the ranks].”
Edwards Navigates Business Side of Boxing
Edwards, who has even been linked to a fight with his former world champion brother Charlie, who held the WBC crown, is a student of the sport but he’s also learned to navigate and understand the business, too. Trained by the often-unheralded Grant Smith, Edwards is ready to take on a fight to keep busy while the congestion in his division unclogs.
“So I was getting four, five, six fights pretty much in 12 month periods,” he reflected, of the early stages of his career. “Once [I] had seven title fights in 14 months, with an injury that put me out for two months in the middle of it, so I’ve been active through my career but now I’m at the stage where I’m probably the most paid in the weight [class], and in a position where I’m regarded as probably the best flyweight, on paper, I can demand the fights now. But sometimes it’s the demanding, the waiting and trying to be patient for those fights… Sometimes, if I have agreed and started up camp like I did back in October, four, five, six weeks of training for a fight and preparing for a life-changing fight and then the opponent just turns around and says they want a ridiculous amount of money, they’re not accepting terms now, there’s only so many times you can do that. Now I think, if I can’t get any of these big names in the conversation, if Eddie [Hearn] can’t convince anyone that fighting me is a good idea, then we will get back out June-July and apply pressure for the back end of the year for the big fights.”
Sunny Edwards Impresses as Commentator for DAZN
Edwards has also been keeping busy outside the ropes and impressed as an expert commentator for DAZN last weekend where he was ringside for the IBF super-featherweight title fight between now two-time champion Joe Cordina and Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov.
