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Nick Parkinson
After Sunny Edwards and Galal Yafai bumped into each other at the supermarket, another encounter in the ring became inevitable.
Instead of discussing what groceries were in their baskets, the two English flyweights talked through a plan to renew their amateur rivalry. The result is Saturday’s fight for the WBC interim belt at the BP Pulse LIVE (formerly known as the NEC) in Birmingham, nine years after their first encounter as amateurs.
“It was crazy but about four, five or six months ago I was in Tesco in Sheffield and I was parked two cars down from Galal,” Edwards told ESPN. “We stood there and had about 10-15 minutes conversation, had negotiations to fight each other, and then the fight got announced.”
While the pair remain respectful and happy to stop and chat, Edwards still feels aggrieved at what he believes was an unjust decision by the Great Britain boxing team to pick Yafai instead of him to compete at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Edwards won a split decision over Yafai when they were amateurs in April 2015, but a year later, Yafai was selected for Rio. The decision still irks Edwards, and he blames Robert McCracken, performance director at Team GB Boxing — and also still Yafai’s trainer — for missing out on the Olympics.
“I have always been cool with Galal, proud of his achievements, it’s never been personal, and if I had the benefit of what he was given I would have lapped it up,” Edwards told ESPN. “Is there any animosity? No, I’m very secure and happy of what I have gone on to achieve. To me, the storyline is I beat him, got on the squad at the same time as him, but he was picked for everything above me. He is still being trained by the person who was making the decisions back then [McCracken] and at the same gym — to me that just kind of stinks a bit. It’s like I was part of a much bigger plot, a bit out of order.”
ESPN has reached out to McCracken for comment.
Yafai did not win a medal in Rio, but at the following Olympics in Tokyo won gold and then turned professional in February 2022. Yafai believes Edwards is still bothered by missing out on the Olympics.
“When we fought each other in 2015 I was quite inexperienced and he beat me by split decision, and he might make a big deal of that, we will see,” Yafai told ESPN. “But I think he’s still bitter that I went to the Olympics instead of him in 2021.”
After getting overlooked for the Olympics, Edwards (21-1, 4 KOs) turned professional in 2016 and in April 2021 ended Moruti Mthalane’s 13-year unbeaten streak to win the IBF flyweight title by unanimous decision. Edwards, 28, who is from south London but lives in Sheffield and trains in Liverpool, made four successful world title defences before his corner pulled him out at the end of the ninth round against American Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez in a world title unification fight in Arizona last December.
After being floored in Round 9 and dominated by Rodriguez, Edwards won a unanimous technical decision over former junior flyweight champion Adrian Curiel in June when the fight was stopped in Round 9 due to a nasty cut Edwards suffered following a clash of heads.
Edwards has superior experience to Yafai in the professional ranks and has consistently faced better opponents for the last few years. But Edwards insists this fight is not too soon for Yafai (8-0, 6 KOs), 31, who will be fighting in front of his home fans in Birmingham.
“He’s three years older than me, and he’s probably done as many rounds as me and travelled the world as an amateur, so this isn’t too soon for him,” Edwards told ESPN.
“Me and Galal were sparring partners for multiple fights in the amateurs, and he has just had experience in a different way. He had the backing of the best lottery funded Olympic system which he is still benefiting from. The system developed the fighter from the amateurs, he has got the world of sparring partners to pick and choose from, the whole Olympic gym and rings to spar in, the S&C facilities to use, the indoor track to use, Galal has it all.
“In Rocky IV when Rocky fought Ivan Drago, it’s like that with me and him, this is next level what I am coming up against because he has been in the Team GB lab for over 10 years. I’m in the No Name Gym in Liverpool where we have a bag that takes up about a third of the gym. But we get it done and we don’t complain, even if the ring is one with metal girders and you slide when you get into the corner, I still get the work in.”
Yafai, who trains in Sheffield, agrees his first world title shot is not premature after registering two stoppage wins this year.
“I know what Sunny Edwards is about, we sparred loads, and I think it’s the right time to face him for me,” Yafai told ESPN. “Some people might say it’s too soon but Israil Madrimov fought Terence Crawford [in August, for the junior middleweight title] with only 11 fights experience as a professional, and after a lot of experience as an amateur, and it’s the same with me.”
AS WELL AS their amateur rivalry, both share the experience of having older brothers who have been champions.
Kal Yafai, 35, retired a year ago after reigning as WBA junior bantamweight for four years, while 33-year-old Gamal is a former European junior featherweight champion who is also retired. Like Naseem Hamed, who ruled as featherweight world champion (1995-2000), the Yafais’ parents are from Yemen. The Yafai brothers, who slept in the same bed growing up in Birmingham, were inspired to take up boxing by the success and charisma of Hamed, who was raised in Sheffield.
Charlie Edwards, 31, is the former WBC world flyweight champion (2018-2019), who revived his career with a decision win over Thomas Essomba for the European bantamweight title in September.
Some brothers never spar each other, like former world heavyweight champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, but Sunny, who manages Essomba, has sparred Charlie in recent weeks.
“It’s always good sparring with my brother [Charlie], it’s always very competitive, a bit of spite to it,” Edwards told ESPN. “It was what I was looking for. I’ve been duffing up my big brother since I was about 15, 16, so ain’t nothing changed.
“When Charlie fought Thomas, it was the first time ever I was silent for a fight that I was watching because I was caught in the middle. I have got a lot of love and time for Thomas, who has been very loyal, and Charlie is my brother.
“I looked up to my brother massively growing up. I was nine years old when I started to box. My brother could have done anything and I would have wanted to do it, and not only that I would have wanted to beat him at it. If we were playing [computer game] FIFA I would have wanted to beat him at, if we were playing football I would have wanted to beat him at it.
“My brother got into boxing and so did I. He helped me learn the world of boxing, and having a high benchmark to aim for. I’ve always had a high expectation of myself because of my brother and his success, it has always made me strive and helped me achieve everything that I have.”
With Rodriguez, 24, from San Antonio, now at junior bantamweight, Yafai is the biggest fight available for Edwards, who is ESPN’s No. 1 boxer at 112 pounds. Saturday’s victor could progress to face Japan’s Kenshiro Teraji (24-1, 15 KOs), 32, the WBC flyweight champion and Yafai recognises this is a good time for boxing in the lighter weight classes.
“People are taking a lot more notice of the smaller divisions now,” Yafai told ESPN. “I did myself some favours by winning the Olympic gold medal and Sunny has won a world title as a professional, and it’s made this a big fight for British boxing.
“Japan has got some great fighters in the lighter divisions and the likes of [undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya] Inoue and [WBC bantamweight champion Junto] Nakatani are creating a lot of interest. Japan is a big fighting country and it has a lot of fighters at junior featherweight, bantamweight, flyweight.
“Me and Sunny are probably not at the same level as some of them but Sunny is a known fighter in the UK and I’m the Olympic champion, so this is a big fight for the UK. We don’t get the same exposure at flyweight as the guys do at heavyweight, but it’s as good a time as any to be a flyweight”.