Charlie Edwards believes that his brother Sunny feels “unbeatable” ahead of Saturday’s fight with Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez.
The IBF and WBO champions fight at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, to finally determine the finest flyweight in the world.
Sunny Edwards, 27, has typically cut the most confident of figures, and after finally using Thursday’s press conference and Friday’s weigh-in to mock the heavy-handed Rodriguez and to attempt to get under his skin, his older brother insists that the ever-present confidence and conviction he portrays is far from an act.
Charlie Edwards, 30, once held the WBC title and has sparred his brother to help him prepare for his biggest test, and ahead of the fight with the opponent also recognised as the most dangerous of his brother’s career, he told ProBox TV: “He ain’t going into this fight as the underdog in his head. He’s got that undefeated mindset, where he can’t see himself getting beaten, and going into a fight of this magnitude, having that mentality that you’re not getting beaten and you’re gonna do this and that to him – that’s a powerful mindset.
“Sunny’s looking very well. He’s firing on all cylinders in training camp, and he’s confident. He’s in high spirits, and talking like he can’t be beaten. It’s good to go into a fight like this, against one of the best pound-for-pounders in the world, and have that confidence and headspace where you feel unbeatable.
“The mindset is a very powerful and important thing. You have to believe to achieve. If you can’t be beaten up here [points to his head] your body can perform to another level. People on the outside might think that’s unrealistic, but because you think and believe it you can portray that in reality. Some fighters don’t train as hard as other fighters, but because their mindset’s stronger, that’s why they perform on the night and under the lights and everything. The mindset is a powerful thing, and one of the most important things in the sport.
“When my mind’s not been right I’ve not performed. But when my mind’s right there’s no beating me. There was times when I was world champion and the pressure got too much for me, and I got that pessimist’s mentality, where I was world champion and thought, ‘I’m not good enough to be world champion’. It played on my mind massively, and knocked my confidence a little bit. I thought I weren’t who everyone thought I was.
“We’re all human. We all have them dark moments and dark thoughts that creep into our head. It’s just being able to control them thoughts and putting that negative thought and taking it away. Fighters are more human than anyone actually ever believes, and suffer the negative and dark thoughts probably more than the average Joe. We know what we’re going into, but we can control them. It’s important to control that positive mindset and to put in the work behind the scenes that makes you believe. That’s what develops that mindset.”
Rodriguez, 23 and the WBO champion, also once held the WBC super flyweight title.
“He’s in the mindset where he’s, ‘I just wanna be in big fights; big events’, and that’s where us fighters should be,” Edwards, who has just been given his manager’s licence from the British Boxing Board of Control, continued of his brother. “[Otherwise] you’re not gonna be fighting the best, and you’re not gonna be centre of attention.
“I am confident in him winning. I’m fully aware that it’s a 50-50 fight. It’s who turns up on the night. ‘Bam’ is a very dangerous fighter; he can punch very hard, and I believe he is the quickest fighter Sonny’s ever been in the ring with. Sunny’s also the quickest fighter ‘Bam’s’ ever been in the ring with, and more awkward than any other fighter. ‘Bam’ punches very hard.
“It makes for who turns up on the night. But I’m confident Sunny can pull this off.
“He actually hasn’t been training on the ropes. He hasn’t been on the ropes much. I can’t give away too much, but many people might be shocked with how Sunny fights this fight.”
