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There are nights for British boxers to step out of the comforts of home and easy title defences and instead step up to the plate of being a bona-fide star of their division.
Ricky Hatton had it against Kostya Tszyu to become a world champion and take down the man at light-welterweight. Joe Calzaghe had it when he beat Jeff Lacy at super-middleweight and again when he went to America to take on Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jnr.
Tyson Fury’s moment came against Wladimir Klitschko to become the best heavyweight. While Prince Naseem Hamed had his night against Kevin Kelley to show how a featherweight could take New York.
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Some don’t quite make it. Many a British world champion has had a belt but never got the acclaim for really stepping up and taking down a star in their division. And in the early hours of tomorrow morning, Sunny Edwards gets his chance to stake a claim as a king of the flyweight division when he takes on the biggest challenge of his career.
The pint-sized puncher from Surrey – who has yet to lose in 20 bouts – faces Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez in a unification of their IBF and WBO flyweight belts in Arizona. Edwards, 27, is facing an unbeaten world champion in America in a fight which will elevate the winner’s status in the sport significantly.
Do you think Sunny Edwards will beat Jesse Rodriguez? Let us know in the comments section.
Lord of the flies? Well WBA champion Artem Dalakian and WBC title holder Julio Cesar Martienz would argue against it.
But there’s no doubt that the winner of this weekend’s showdown will have the two belts as their argument.
This is Edwards’ night to back up his talk from the years about his ability to be a great in the ring. There’s evidence in his body of work to suggest he has the skills to do so, but this is the real test of his true level for the man who won the world title against veteran Moruti Mthalane back in 2021.
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Edwards is a character whose social media behaviour and brashness about his in-ring accomplishments and other matters around his former team and personal life, has rubbed people up the wrong way. It doesn't excuse some of his behaviour on social media, of course. He steps over the line at times. But in being loud it has opened doors for him that maybe don’t often unlock for the smaller men in the sport.
Now he’s in the room, it’s time to back up those words. Edwards has his chance to shine and show he wasn’t all talk. It should be a fascinating fight as the latest British fighter attempts to join some of the biggest names who have gone head and shoulders above the rest.
- Boxing
- Tyson Fury
- Ricky Hatton
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