BY SUNNY EDWARDS – Guest Columnist
IF YOU ask everyone else, there’s a 10-year, long-standing rivalry that dates back to our siblings, and a fight that never happened, that could and maybe should have. I have my own storyline with the Olympics, the way the amateur system is set up. And I’ve made that clear in the build-up to this fight.
Apart from that, I’m going into my 23rd fight as a professional boxer, [so] they all feel the same at this point. I’m preparing for a fight. I know Galal [Yafai] is a very good fighter, but pretty much everyone I’ve been in with for the last few years has been a very good fighter. I’ve had hard fights, he’s just another one.
I appreciate that it’s a British rival, which I haven’t really had too many of, especially at this level. I know a lot of people have this fight close, but I think in a lot of ways, I’m at the stage where, whether it’s a unification, or whether it’s this or [Adrian] Curiel, they’re all kind of the same. I get in a boxing ring and I do what I need to do
Yes, Galal and I have sparred a lot. I can’t remember the last time we sparred, but it was probably over a year ago. In the first five or six fights of his professional career, when he needed a good spar, he came to the Steel City Gym to get it. They were always good rounds, always competitive rounds and I think the fans can look forward to a great night of boxing.
I saw Eddie Hearn posting that they’re expecting a big crowd for this and the fight deserves it. They’ve got some great local fighters on the undercard and I think Birmingham is getting behind the event, which I’m looking forward to being a part of.
You could say I have the experience advantage, but it all depends who makes the most of what on the night. For every benefit that you could perceive I’ve got, it probably comes with a possible con, and vice versa. He’s not done the 12 rounds, while I’ve proven myself to be a 12-round fighter. I’m very good at getting through the rounds, staying ahead when I need to, being tricky when I need to and working when I need to.
In all those years, since me and Galal shared the ring together back in 2015, he’s been traveling the world, fighting and sparring the best fighters in the world. Since he’s been professional, he’s had sort the same amount of international and 10-round level fights that I had before I took a step up. And I think the perceived step up between me and Moruti [Mthalane] is far greater than the same perceived step up of me and Galal.
If I win, it goes my way, I don’t want to hear people say ‘Oh yeah, Sunny got him before he got it [the experience]…’ – Galal is three years older than me, he’s a fantastic fighter. He’s a two-time Olympian and an Olympic gold medalist. He was one of the best WSB [World Series of Boxing] fighters. He’s shown in his other fights that he can do the rounds and he can dominate in those rounds.
People have been asking about my training set-up for this fight. Chris Williams is my coach. He’s head coach of Brandon Daord, Ryan Farrag, he also trains Paddy ‘The Baddy’ [Pimblett]. Old Everton Red Triangle trainer, which is a gym that I had a longstanding rivalry with for my whole amateur career
Chris is someone I’ve shared a lot of time with, in and around a few camps, being Brandon [Daord]’s coach, who has been my main sparring partner. I think it’s worked very well. We’ve been working on the stuff that I haven’t really looked at, but also, keeping a lot of the same stuff and what makes me the fighter that I am. I’ve bought into it. I’ve got a good relationship with Chris and the lads in the gym, so it was kind of seamless.
I accepted the [Yafai] fight and announced it before I had a trainer, but I don’t make excuses. I don’t let things stall anything. They offered the fight for November 30 and it’s a fight I’ve been waiting for. So once the press conference was done, I went with Chris.
There was no massive fallout per se, with me and Grant Smith. We’ve spoke within the last few days actually. I believe he’s going to be at my fight, so there’s no issue. We’ve worked the corner [together] for young fighters since my departure and there’s no issue or animosity.
I think more of the questions and answers were for me in my head. I realised who I was becoming in boxing, rather than just ‘Sunny Edwards the boxer’. Without meaning to, it caused some tension and some friction to those close around me. It was more that [side of things] that I needed to get away from, rather than anything tactically or anything untoward.
When I’m in boxing, I like to make myself fully vulnerable to my surroundings. I need to make sure I’m surrounded by people that have good intent and goodwill for me. It was nothing personal, we all still get on, but I just think the side quests I was doing outside of my boxing career ruffled some feathers and it made situations, in my mind, impossible.
