In a crowded field, getting drawn in and influenced by sparring stories is perhaps the biggest mug’s game in boxing. There are just too many variables at play and too much potential for gym tales to be tall tales.
However, heading into Saturday’s all-British clash between Sunny Edwards (21-1, 4 KOs) and Galal Yafai (8-0, 6 KOs) for the interim WBC flyweight title, sparring does feel a bit more relevant. Mainly because there’s been so much of it between the main event combatants.
Edwards holds a victory in the amateurs over Yafai before each joined the Team GB squad. Yafai was the golden boy, at first figuratively and then literally at the COVID-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Edwards quickly grew frustrated with that status and turned professional in 2016.
WATCH: Sunny Edwards vs. Galal Yafai, live on DAZN
In the same year Yafai claimed Olympic gold, Edwards became IBF flyweight champion — a title he defended four times before a stoppage loss in a thrilling affair against pound-for-pound sensation Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez last December.
Now, after first trading leather in 2015, Edwards and Yafai top the bill at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, the latter’s home city. The countless shared rounds as amateurs and pros, and banks of knowledge two superb technicians have built off one another is a truly fascinating aspect of this matchup.
“Probably not,” Yafai told The Sporting News when asked if there was any fighter he knew better than his weekend rival. “I’ve sparred guys on the[GB] team that I’ve been sparring for years and years but as a pro, not really no. I’ve sparred Sunny a lot.
“I know he likes to talk about the ones in 2015 and 2016 but we only sparred a year-and-a-half ago, so those are the ones I can get a gauge from. But they were good spars. I wish people could have seen them.”
All will soon be revealed and Edwards agrees the pair will be similarly watchable when it matters under the bright lights.
“I’m very excited for the spectacle that the fight is going to be,” he told The Sporting News. “It’s always a good one — it’s entertaining, it’s high-energy, it’s good angles, a lot of punches thrown.
“Whatever happens, I genuinely think people will want to see the fight again. It’s always competitive, back and forth, back forth. Emotionally tiring as well as physically. It’s great work and I’m looking forward for the world to see it.”
Did Sunny Edwards and Galal Yafai’s brothers fight?
Verbal blows have been kept to a minimum, even from the famously motor-mouthed Edwards, during the build-up, despite the promotional tag of “Bloodline”. Elder brothers Charlie Edwards and Kal Yafai are each former world champions at flyweight and super-flyweight respectively and were talked about as potential opponents for years. There, the enmity is genuine.
Throw middle sibling Gamal Yafai into the mix, albeit a slightly bigger man as a former European super bantamweight champion, and it’s fainty remarkable we’ve had to wait until November 30, 2024 for the first professional Edwards vs. Yafai showdown.
“Me and Galal are cool but that [family] rivalry is definitely not fake. My brother, Kal. Gamal… they don’t like each other,” Edwards said. “The bigger brothers never got in the ring with each other so now the little brother are having it. But that is real life, not just part of the script. I made sure they put a light on that.”
Another element Edwards has not been shy to discuss is his lesser status during their time in Sheffield with the podium squad, where GB boxing supremo Rob McCracken clearly took a shine Yafai at his expense. McCracken, who expertly guided Carl Froch and Anthony Joshua to two-time world champion status, will be in Galal’s corner once again this weekend.
“I never got the opportunity that I believed that I deserved and it was clipped before it even started,” he said. “Before I fought, after being on the squad for four or five months and having a better win than anyone else at my weight had got, I was sat there waiting while people in my division were getting sent to competitions. Galal had been to five. I didn’t know why I wasn’t getting sent to places. I was scratching my head, begging to be sent to places.
“It’s like I’m the rebels fighting the evil empire here in my story. That doesn’t mean these guys are evil guys. But my coach isn’t on a six-figure salary. He’s training me and giving his time and having to balance his whole life around it. He hasn’t got a job from the amateur system to be the head coach of a GB setup with the best facilities, paying him loads and loads.”
WATCH: Sunny Edwards vs. Galal Yafai, live on DAZN
Who is Sunny Edwards’ trainer?
The man in Edwards’ corner on Saturday will be Chris Williams, who is new to the role after the former world champion called time on his long-time and productive alliance with Grant Smith. Williams is a product of the Everton Red Triangle gym in Liverpool and is also noted for his work with UFC star Paddy Pimblett.
Edwards and Smith parted on good terms but the relative turbulence could be a significant factor when set against the familiar picture of Yafai and his career-long mentor McCracken in the other corner.
“He’s just such a professional, Rob. He’s a busy man and can juggle a lot of things,” Yafai said. “He was also a great boxer back in his day as well. He’s been there and done it and learned a lot from brilliant trainers out in America.
“His personality as well. He knows when to push, he knows when to slow down. He doesn’t want to be too much in the limelight, which is good for a trainer – especially in this day and age. He’s old school. Rob has helped to change my life and hopefully we can change it a little bit more on Saturday night.”
Despite being the older man – 31 to Edwards’ 29 — and boasting extensive amateur experience that included a stint in the World Series of Boxing, Yafai is understandably viewed as the coming man against an opponent who has boxed the 12-round championship distance on seven occasions and won each time.
Perhaps Saturday will be a tipping point where invaluable ring IQ starts to look like miles on the clock for Edwards. Although he rebounded with a solid win over Adrian Curiel in June, the Rodriguez defeat was hard and punishing.
For his part, Sunny is sanguine about his prospect against Yafai, with a shot at the WBC’s full champion Kenshiro Teraji the reward. He’s seen it all and is now putting that knowledge to use in a burgeoning sideline of managing fighters. Edwards knows what’s in store in Birmingham and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Boxing is the world’s saddest circus but it’s exciting to watch,” he added. “On November 30, I’ll be going out as ringmaster, hopefully. If not I’ll be going out as the clown and that’s just the way it is. The world will move on and next week there’ll be another fight we’re all talking about.”
If Edwards vs. Yafai gels as expected, it might be a fight we’re talking about for years to come.
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