SUNNY EDWARDS expects Lee McGregor to hit new heights now he has joined forces with him in Sheffield at the Steel City Gym. McGregor will begin his new partnership with Grant Smith this Saturday (May 18) in Glasgow on the undercard of Josh Taylorโ€™s IBF super-lightweight challenge against Ivan Baranchyk at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow.

Edwards, who is impressing at super-flyweight, has known McGregor since the pair met in the GB finals in 2015, with McGregor coming out on top and they have remained friends ever since with Edwards advising the Scot to join him in Sheffield, after he decided to leave trainer Shane McGuigan.

The 23-year-old as well as supporting McGregor, is also looking to build on his growing reputation and is likely to return in June or July, where he could well fight on the undercard of Daniel Dubois and Nathan Gormanโ€™s anticipated clash for the British heavyweight title.

His last win against Pedro Matos saw him secure an eight round stoppage, which saw Edwards move to 11-0 and secure a place in the top 10 of the WBOโ€™s rankings. He explained his current situation toย Boxing News:ย โ€œI was told by Frank Warren that I would be out again on July 13, since then weโ€™re just waiting to see if that has changed and get some more information, which we should have in the next few days.

โ€œThereโ€™s two options available as far as we know, one of which is a TV slot on the bill, which Iโ€™d love as itโ€™s a huge bill, but there is also a possibility that I will be headlining a smaller bill at York Hall, so itโ€™s just a case of them dotting the iโ€™s and crossing the tโ€™s.โ€

โ€œMatos was surprisingly tough. Itโ€™s not well known, but as an amateur he beat Josh Pritchard who was signed to the McGuigansโ€™ at 56kgs, so he wasnโ€™t a mug by any means. His pro record didnโ€™t show him to be much, 7-1 with only one stoppage and getting stopped by Juan Hinostroza, who is much better than his record suggests, especially over the later rounds,โ€ he continued.ย  โ€œI was happy with the performance all-in-all. I maybe went out looking for the stoppage in the earlier rounds, so he went missing and negative, so I stood there in the fifth and sixth, so heโ€™d open up and then that was where I started taking him apart. I was taking some silly shots, but when the gameplan was to get him out, youโ€™re going to take a couple, as youโ€™re going to be sat in the pocket.

“I proved that when I do let my hands go, I can hurt people. Iโ€™ve never tried selling it that I am one of the hardest punchers in the world but I clearly have enough on my shots that it stops people in their tracks going back to the Ryan Farrag fight, who couldnโ€™t get to me, Junior Granados as well, apart from the one shot that he put me down with, so Iโ€™ve got enough power to keep these fighters off.โ€

There has been no word on an opponent yet for Edwardsโ€™ next fight, however he was recently called by the British Boxing Board of Control to contest the vacant British title against Tommy Frank, who also holds the Commonwealth title.

The belt has been vacant since Sunnyโ€™s older brother Charlie, who is now the WBC world champion at flyweight, left it behind after beating Iain Butcher. Sunny, who is certainly not shy in giving his opinion, wants the fight with his Sheffield rival, but isnโ€™t so sure that Frankโ€™s team will step up to fight him.

โ€œItโ€™s been mandated but I believe that his team will keep him well away from me despite being told by everyone around him that Tommy Frank will be a clear winner and that I offer him nothing, which is bizarre. There would be very few people out there who would argue that he has done more and has a more promising career than me up to this point, but thatโ€™s by the wayside as opinions are just opinions,โ€ he said. โ€œIโ€™ve sparred him a few times and heโ€™s decent, very tough actually so Iโ€™ll give him that but Iโ€™m under no illusion as to what happened in those sessions. I can take plenty of confidence from the spars, but thereโ€™s no way I would get complacent over it because some fighters are different on the actual night as opposed to in the gym, whether it be in a good way or a bad one.

โ€œIโ€™d like to take the fight as itโ€™s a perfect place for it to happen because heโ€™s got the Commonwealth and Iโ€™ve got the ranking belts in the European and International with the WBO, so add the British in there then we can have four belts on offer for the winner. Weโ€™re both from Sheffield, both on the way up and young, so it makes loads of sense because the loser can come again.โ€