Sunny Edwards might have traded promotional places having joined up with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, but he said he has no business making enemies in the sport.
Edwards, who divides opinion on social media with his at times potent content and thick skin, has was guided by Frank Warren, often fighting on BT Sport, and he also was promoted by Probellum.
Despite his new promotional start, that begins against Anders Campos at Wembley Arena on June 20, the IBF flyweight champion has not allowed any doors to close behind him and he has not burned any bridges.
Edwards said he would work with Queensberry again and expressed gratitude to them, helping him build to the status he enjoys today, saying he had a great run with them. The difference was, Edwards said, that Matchroom’s vision and ability to line up high-profile fights for him set them apart.
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Sign Up“Eddie Hearn was very interested in working for me,” Edwards added. “I’ve seen him through a professional lens of being around my brother [Charlie] as well as many other fighters and being welcome and very much amongst the world of boxing at the Matchroom shows, being allowed backstage, being in the changing rooms etc. I’ve always very much got on with them. And now the fights are there, the willingness to work with me is there, probably from Matchroom more than any other promoter, because they know the fights they can make. It’s perfect business. I can be tagged to or aligned with five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 different storylines with fighters they’ve got on their cards on their books or that they’ve had and they’ll be able to get back that would all be very interesting fights for world boxing at a weight where it doesn’t usually happen. I think I’m one of their best signings this year, and I think the reaction to me signing kind of mirrored that.”
The signing also landed Edwards a short notice commentary gig on DAZN, that saw him win wide acclaim, and it’s a path he might choose to go down once his career starts to wind down. In the meantime, Hearn can potentially make the fights for Edwards against the likes of Julio Cesar Martinez and Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez.
And while things might have changed promotionally for Edwards, things have stayed the same at the Steel City Gym in Sheffield that has been his home for so long. His trainer Grant Smith has finally started to earn the accolades he has deserved but not coveted.
“He’s been consistent,” Edwards said of his coach. “People don’t actually really realise what his track record is. Fighters he’s actually been the trainer of, he’s had so many wins at good levels, won titles etc, and the only times I’ve known him to lose have been on small hall fights, with small hall fighters. If anything, we’re one of the hardest gyms of fighters to match in the country. I think people know what they’re getting with us. Tactically very astute, fit, strong, reactive, under manners, under good discipline from the corner, keeping our heads. We’ve got a style that I think is ingrained, even though everyone’s different. I think we’ve got an aura and a confidence coming from our gym that’s only helped that we’ve known for a long time and we’ve all been confident and comfortable that what we’re doing over here at Steel City is working because we’ve seen the success, and everyone’s coming around us. I think it’s a boost for the guys that have joined in the last few years that everyone else is recognising the work that’s going down in the gym and it makes it that bit easier to believe in it, that bit easier to buy into it. And that’s resulting in positive performances.”
As well as Edwards, Grant Smith’s son, British light-welterweight Dalton has become one of the UK’s brightest talents, and Albanian star Florian Marku is also in the stable.
