Charlie Edwards plots path to Zou Shiming

Charlie Edwards

CHARLIE EDWARDS has joined Matchroom and will make his professional debut on the January 31 show at the O2, a bill topped by Anthony Joshua.

Small in stature he may be but Charlie has big ambitions. โ€œIf all goes well and Iโ€™m progressing really nicely and I go through domestic level, Iโ€™d love to fight and love to get in a ring with Zou Shiming. Iโ€™ve been round the amateurs and he was as top amateur,โ€ Edwards told Boxing News. Shiming is a two-time Olympic gold medallist and now a massive draw in China. โ€œThe money he brings to the table for flyweight, youโ€™d be stupid not get in there with him. Iโ€™d love to get in there with him and hopefully I can give him a beating. He isnโ€™t unbeatable, Iโ€™ve seen the way he fights and heโ€™s still got an amateur style. Thatโ€™ll be a massive potential fight, maybe in a few years time. Weโ€™ll just have to see how it goes.โ€

The Croydon boxer will start his professional journey at flyweight but ultimately expects to move up through the divisions. โ€œI donโ€™t want to stay at one weight. Iโ€™m tall enough to be a bantamweight. I always work hard and put everything into this,โ€ said Charlie. โ€œ[Promoter Eddie Hearn] has got a plan for me, two four-threes, then two six-threes and then jump straight into two eight [rounders] and, depending on what position Iโ€™m in at the time, maybe challenge for a title after that. Because in the flyweight division there isnโ€™t much out there – you can move quickly. Thatโ€™s what Iโ€™d like to do.

โ€œItโ€™s been a long time coming. Iโ€™ve been on the [GB] squad for six years and now this is showtime, Iโ€™m really looking forward to it.

โ€œI just canโ€™t wait to get in that ring and under them lights and prove to everyone how good I am.โ€

He also has a message for former GB team-mate Anthony Joshua, who headlines the show. “Eddie wants me to be a TV floater so hopefully Joshua gets Kevin Johnson out of there and he puts me on,” the 21-year-old said. “Iโ€™ll be ready on the night, itโ€™s going to be such an excitement being there, to perform and to know that Iโ€™m going to get pushed on Sky, itโ€™s going to do me great, itโ€™s going to build my career and hopefully bring fans in as well.”

Also on the O2 bill, Anthony Joshua fights the USAโ€™s Kevin Johnson, Kevin Mitchell takes on Daniel Estrada, Tommy Martin fights Ricky Boylan for the vacant English light-welterweight title and John Wayne Hibbert boxes Tyler Goodjohn.

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