At the final pre-fight press conference, Sunny Edwards and Galal Yafai previewed their bout and went face to face. The pair battles it out for the interim WBC flyweight title on November 30 at BP Pulse Live in Birmingham, England.
Edwards (21-1, 4 KOs) holds a win over Yafai (7-0, 5 KOs) from their amateur days. In his previous fight in June, the former champion from Sutton defeated Adrian Curiel via a ninth-round technical decision. The 28-year-old targets his second win in a row and promises an “elite boxing”.
“It’s a good fight and I know Galal is a good fighter,” Sunny Edwards said. I’ve had a lot going on that everyone wants to speak about and the questions about where I was training and who I was training with. I took the fight without an agreement with a trainer, I was a free agent in trainer terms, but I’ve knuckled down and done everything asked of me with my new trainer Chris, I’ve got some familiar faces around me, and more will be joining on fight night.”
“I’m excited about it. The problem with the fight from the whole showbiz and entertainment side is that I actually really like Galal. I think he’s a great fighter, someone that we’ve dealt with away from the cameras for hundreds of hours with sparring and being on Team GB at the same time. I think I am better, but he thinks he’s better than me, and that’s why we’re here, to find out.”
“That’s what makes it so exciting. You can see the respect between us in the build-up, we both speak confidently but say how good the other guy is as we’ve spent so many rounds with each other and we both know that when we get in there, anything can happen, we’re both that good. It’s about who makes the right moves, the right steps, who doesn’t fall into traps, walk onto the wrong shots, it’s elite boxing.”
Yafai is coming off a win via third-round TKO against Sergio Orozco Oliva in September. Birmingham’s 31-year-old Olympic gold medalist also looks forward to an upcoming challenge.
“It’s a massive fight, it speaks for itself,” Galal Yafai said. “Sunny is a great fighter, a former world champion, a good name and we’ve got history as well which gives a bit more needle in it. It’s great that it’s in Birmingham as well, and I’m looking to put a good performance in on Saturday.”
The press conference also featured the Edwards vs Yafai undercard fighters. Among the matchups, Cameron Vuong (6-0, 3 KOs) of England takes on Gavin Gwynne (17-3-1, 5 KOs) of Wales at lightweight. Conah Walker (13-3-1, 5 KOs) meets his English fellow Lewis Ritson (23-4, 13 KOs) at welterweight.
Hamza Uddin (2-0, 1 KOs) and Benn Norman (7-5) go head-to-head at flyweight. Kieron Conway (21-3-1, 6 KOs) and Ryan Kelly (19-4-1, 8 KOs) contest for the vacant Commonwealth title at middleweight.
Also on the card is a middleweight matchup between Aaron Bowen (3-0, 2 KOs) and James Todd (4-3-2). British former champion Callum Smith (29-2, 21 KOs) goes up against Colombia’s Carlos Galvan (20-14-2, 19 KOs) at light heavyweight.
In addition, Taylor Bevan makes his pro boxing debut against Greg O’Neill (7-8-1, 1 KOs) at super middleweight. Ibraheem Sulaimaan (5-0, 3 KOs) and Marvin Solano (24-20, 8 KOs) clash at super featherweight. Troy Jones (11-0, 6 KOs) defends his English light heavyweight title against Michael Stephenson (9-2).