British flyweight contenders Sunny Edwards and Galal Yafai battled this past Saturday [November 30] in what was expected to be a more evenly-matched contest, but their contest ended up widely in Yafai’s favor after the first 2 rounds; eventually culminating in a 6th round technical knockout (TKO) win for Yafai. The two fighters headlined a Matchroom card on Yafai’s home turf in the city of Birmingham, England, at the bP pulse LIVE venue.
Sunny Edwards Vs. Galal Yafai
With the vacant WBC interim flyweight (112 lbs) having been made available, the contest between Sunny Edwards (21-2, 4 KO’s), a former world champion, and Galal Yafai (9-0, 7 KO’s), an Olympic gold medalist, took an extra dimension given both fighters had a shared history stemming from their amateur days and numerous sparring session.
Despite expectations of a competitive bout and Edwards’ assertions that Yafai was pressured into fighting him, the match would surprisingly become one-sided as Galal Yafai started off with heated intensity.
Sunny Edwards struggled in the 1st round as Yafai made full use of his prime conditioning and greater strength, pressuring the former world champion into a corner or the ropes and leading to an easily-won round for Yafai as Edwards activity and effort paled in comparison.
However, it was following an equally-decisive 2nd round for Galal Yafai that the match virtually went into his favor after Edwards was caught by DAZN cameras questioning whether to continue on fighting.
With Edwards’ words leaving little room for doubt, the match would reflect this as the former world champion struggled to deal with Yafai who exerted more pressure, launching combination after combination and sparing Sunny Edwards little to no room to recover or retaliate. While Edwards had some spurts of his own after continued encouragement from his corner, Galal Yafai largely broke the British fighter down over the subsequent rounds.
The 6th round would be the final round of the contest as the referee stepped in after another barrage from Yafai left Edwards less responsive, concluding the match as a TKO win for Yafai.
With Galal Yafai winning the [vacant] WBC interim 112 lbs title as a result, he may cross paths with Japanese WBC world flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji (24-1, 15 KO’s) depending on whether the sanctioning body endeavors to order a match between the two.
However, for Sunny Edwards, his second career defeat may result in retirement according to his post-match words:
“If I’m perfectly, perfectly honest; win lose or draw, [I’m] retiring tonight,” said Edwards. “I don’t have the same energy that I had for the sport, for the process.
“I put so much in the first six, seven years of my career that I really needed a break before this fight. But I always want to compete against the best and while I was number one I wanted to be involved in the biggest fights, the biggest events.“
Undercard fights:
British light-heavyweight (175 lbs) contender and former super middleweight (168 lbs) champion Callum Smith (30-2, 22 KO’s) made an in-ring return after more than 10 months of inactivity following his January 13 loss to undisputed 175 lbs champion Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KO’s). Faced against an unheralded Colombian fighter in Carlos Galvan (20-15-2, 19 KO’s), Smith made short work of his opponent, stopping him in the 5th round of their 8-round match.
At welterweight (147 lbs), an all-British contest between British contenders Conah Walker (14-3-1, 5 KO’s) and Lewis Ritson (23-5, 13 KO’s) saw the former cruise to a unanimous decision (UD) win in a virtual blowout.
A similar domestic battle occurred at middleweight (160 lbs) and saw British contender Kieron Conway (22-3-1, 6 KO’s) win an extremely close contest against countryman Ryan Kelly (19-5-1, 8 KO’s).
