THE controversial nature of his encounter with Daniel Lapin has inspired Lewis Edmondson, the reigning British and Commonwealth champion, to prioritise their rematch over any domestic dustups.
Both light-heavyweight technicians engaged in a 10-round chess match earlier this month, featuring on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois 2 at Wembley Stadium, London.
Prior to their fight, Edmondson, 11-1 (3 KOs), had been made a sizable underdog while Lapin, 12-0 (4 KOs), who is a member of Team Usyk, was widely expected to come through what appeared to be a stern but calculated test.
Instead of setting the world alight, though, the Ukrainian produced a largely underwhelming performance and, in a highly-contentious turn of events, edged a majority decision.
As a result, Edmondson has been left to process a surge of conflicting emotions, firmly believing that he had done enough to win while, at the same time, coming to terms with his first professional defeat.
“It’s been a bit of a weird one,” he told Boxing News. “Obviously, I didn’t get the win on paper, but I feel like it was a career-best performance.
“Every person I’ve spoken to says that I deserved to win, so it doesn’t really feel like a loss.
“We’d studied [Lapin] for many weeks, and I think [that level of preparation] showed on the night.
“We were meant to be in there with this Ukrainian killer that nobody wanted to fight – this big 6’ 6’’ southpaw – but I’m just gobsmacked that we didn’t get the decision.
“We’d prepared for him so well that, when I got in the ring with him, it felt like I’d seen him many times before. Everything [apart from the result] just fell into place.”
In the eighth round of their fight, Edmondson began to pile on the pressure which, bizarrely enough, had caused Lapin to almost tumble out of the ring on two occasions.
Then, based on the distress signals that followed shortly after, the Southampton man was convinced that referee Marcus McDonnell would draw a halt to their closely-contested bout.
“I respect Daniel, and I respect his team, but he knows deep down that he wanted out of there,” Edmondson insisted.
“He was hanging over the ropes, twice, and then the ref [Marcus McDonnell] asked him if he wanted to continue, [to which Lapin] said, ‘no, no, no’, but [McDonnell] still gave him 20 seconds [to recover].
“If that was any fighter other than Oleksandr Usyk’s fighter, then [the referee] would’ve called it off in round eight.”
Naturally, Edmondson is now eager to secure a rematch with Lapin, who typically fights on the undercards of Usyk, before the end of this year.
At the same time, though, ‘The Saint’ acknowledges that a grudge match against Ezra Taylor, his domestic rival, could emerge in the interim.
The pair have until August 13 to negotiate a deal, before a purse bid – with Taylor, 12-0 (8 KOs), being the mandatory challenger for Edmondson’s British light-heavyweight strap – is called.
But of course, should a second encounter with Lapin materialise before 2025 comes to an end, then Edmondson would gladly vacate his Lonsdale Belt in pursuit of a revenge mission.
“Billy Joe Saunders [his manager] has messaged Sergey Lapin [the Sports Director of Team Usyk], but I’m not sure if there’s been any talks yet,” the 29-year-old said.
“I also spoke to Frank Warren [his promoter] after the fight, saying that I’d love [to run it back with Lapin]. He just said, ‘no problem, we’ll see what happens’.
“The Ezra Taylor fight has got to take place by December [for Edmondson to keep his British title], so that could be an option before the Lapin rematch.
“But if I have to vacate the British title to fight Lapin, then I’ll just do that.”
