Notebook: Familiar flyweight foes Edwards, Yafai show respect
Tank-Roach date, site official; Chisora to fight Wallin; Benn clears another hurdle to U.K. license; Bakole update; Valenzuela-Russell title fight; Quick hits; Show and tell
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A fight between former flyweight titlist Sunny Edwards and Galal Yafai has been a long time coming and it will arrive in the form of the main event of the Matchroom Boxing card on Saturday (DAZN, 2 p.m. ET) at BP Pulse LIVE in Birmingham, England.
Yafai will have the hometown advantage when he meets Edwards for the vacant WBC interim flyweight title in a pairing of fighters extremely familiar with each other from their countless rounds of sparring when they were members of Team Great Britain as amateurs and an Edwards victory in a 2015 amateur bout.
From the time Yafai turned pro following his run to winning a gold medal in the delayed 2020 Olympics a pro showdown appeared inevitable, especially with both under the Matchroom Boxing banner.
“It’s exactly the kind of fight that we want to make, a pure 50-50 domestic match-up,” Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said. “This is one of the top fights in British boxing, Sunny Edwards against Galal Yafai, and these two need a huge amount of respect. Sunny’s mantra is ‘real fights only.’
“Sunny doesn’t care. He wants to be in great fights. He believes in himself and he is rolling the dice again on Saturday night, as is Galal. An Olympic gold medalist from Birmingham with just a handful of fights really, and already stepping up to take on one of the top, top flyweights in the world for the WBC interim world title and the winner will go on and fight for the world title (against full titlist Kenshiro Teraji).”
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Edwards (21-1, 4 KOs), 28, is battle tested but some have questioned what he has left after a tremendously one-sided and extremely harsh ninth-round knockout loss to Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez in a flyweight unification fight last December, although Edwards did rebound in his only fight since to defeat former junior flyweight titlist Adrian Curiel by ninth-round technical decision in June.
The fighters have been deferential toward each other, respectful during the buildup and freely laud the other man for his talent, which is not the usual Edwards way.
“I know Galal is a good fighter,” Edwards said. “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 (8-0, 6 KOs), a 31-year-old southpaw, immediately was put on the fast track when he turned pro because of his advanced age, especially for a flyweight. He turned pro in a 10-rounder and has consistently faced legitimate opposition but he will be taking a major step up in competition against Edwards.
Yafai knew he had to put in some building fights to get to the fight with Edwards. He has done that and is confident despite the vast disparity in pro experience and level of pro competition.
“We knew we’d get to this stage,” Yafai said. “We both had to do our bit. I became Olympic Champion, and he became world champion. We were both on the trajectory to be fighting each other.
“I know he has a story about how he should have been picked for the Olympics, but the reality is I went to the Olympics, and then I went to the Olympics again and won Gold. So, it doesn’t matter to me. When I first started boxing, he was one of the first ones that beat me as an amateur. It’s just been brewing since then. It’s not something that I’m that assed about but I’ll say, ‘He beat me on a split decision.’ I’ll tell anyone. You’re competing against the best and Sunny was the best in the country.”
As for the pro meeting at hand, Yafai appears to be a bigger puncher and saw Edwards get stopped by Rodriguez.
“Realistically, I’ve got more chance of knocking him out than he has of me, but anybody can be knocked out, and with those little gloves, everyone punches, so I’ve got to be careful and do things the right way.
“I’ve got to be the best version of Galal Yafai. When he boxes he’s a bit more trickier and on the back foot. I come forward and bring pressure. It’s two contrasting styles. I can knock him out, but it doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen.”
In the co-feature, British welterweights Conah Walker (13-3-1, 5 KOs), 29, and Lewis Ritson (23-4, 13 KOs), 31, who are both seeking to rebound from losses — two in a row for Ritson by knockout — square off in a 10-rounder that figures to be an action fight based on their styles.
‘Tank’ vs. Roach on March 1
Premier Boxing Champions on Friday made official the long-expected fight between WBA lightweight titlist Gervonta “Tank” Davis and WBA junior lightweight titlist Lamont Roach Jr., who will move up one division to challenge him.
The fight will take place on March 1 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and headline a Prime Video PPV card. The kickoff news conference is scheduled for Tuesday at Barclays Center, where Davis, one of boxing’s biggest stars, will fight for the fourth time.
Davis knocked out then-undefeated Jose Pedraza to win his first world title, the IBF belt at junior lightweight, there in 2017; knocked out Jesus Cuellar in the third round to win the vacant WBA “super” junior lightweight title in 2018; and knocked out Rolando Romero to retain the WBA “regular” lightweight belt in 2022. Roach has boxed there once, a four-round decision win in his fifth pro bout in 2014.
Davis, who will make his sixth lightweight title defense, and Roach were initially slated to fight Dec. 14 at the Toyota Center in Houston — a city Davis wanted to fight in — but for reasons that were never made clear the fight was postponed. Initially, Davis said he thought the bout would be rescheduled in January but it will instead take place March 1.
Although they will fight in Brooklyn, Davis (30-0, 28 KOs), 30, and Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs), 29, are regional rivals with Davis from Baltimore and Roach from Washington, D.C., where Davis has an enormous fan base and Roach also has a following.
They both fought just once in 2024. Davis scored a crushing eighth-round knockout of then-undefeated Frank Martin on June 15 in Las Vegas. Roach made his first 130-pound title defense by one-sided eighth-round knockout of then-unbeaten Feargal McCrory on June 28 in Washington.
Chisora vs. Wallin official
When the fight between trash-talking, entertaining heavyweights Derek Chisora and Jarrell Miller fell apart due to a contract beef between Miller and his former promoter, Chisora promoter Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions had another option.
Chisora will instead face Otto Wallin on Feb. 8 (TNT Sports in U.K., no U.S. outlet as of yet) in the main event at the Co-op Live in Manchester, Warren announced.
“I’ve had some amazing nights in Manchester, both in the ring and in the warehouse raves so was its only right I had one last dance up north. Come Feb. 8th I’m going to be bringing WAR to Wallin, be ready for my penultimate show reel knockout,” said Chisora, who is saying this will be his final fight in the U.K. and Queensberry has titled the fight “The Last Dance.”
Since then-heavyweight champion Tyson Fury knocked out his pal Chisora (35-13, 23 KOs), 40, in their third bout in December 2022, the British fan favorite has won two 10-round decisions in a row against Gerald Washington in August 2023 and Joe Joyce in a big upset in July.
“(Chisora) has stated that he wants to hit a half century of fights and that he wants one of his final two to be in Manchester, so we are delighted to make this possible for him and to stage our first promotion at the impressive Co-op Live arena, which I hope will be packed out for Derek’s 49th fight,” Warren said.
Chisora has faced a who’s who during his 18-year career, including Fury (three times), Vitali Klitschko in a world title fight, Oleksandr Usyk, Dillian Whyte (twice), Joseph Parker (twice), Kubrat Pulled (twice) Agit Kabayel and David Haye, among others.
Now he will face Wallin (27-2, 15 KOs), 34, a southpaw from Sweden based in New York, who made his name in 2019 when he badly cut Fury and lost a competitive decision in a lineal title challenge in Las Vegas.
Las December, Anthony Joshua handed him his only other loss via one-sided fifth-round knockout when Wallin’s corner stopped the fight. He has won his only fight since via first-round KO against a low-level opponent.
“I think this is a great fight at the right time for me,” Wallin said. “I’m looking forward to fighting in Manchester, and I know I’m walking into the lion's den, but I will be ready for it and ready to get the victory.”
Said Warren: “Otto has been on the brink of heavyweight glory before and backs himself to return to the top table. Unfortunately, he just didn’t get going when he got his big shot at Anthony Joshua, so this presents a major opportunity for Otto to put himself back at the forefront of what is a booming division.”
The co-feature will pit light heavyweights Willy Hutchinson (18-2, 13 KOs), 26, of Scotland, and Zach Parker (25-1, 18 KOs), 30, of England. Hutchinson is coming off a split decision loss to Joshua Buatsi for the vacant WBO interim title in September. Parker has won three fights in a row since a fourth-round stoppage loss to John Ryder in a 2022 WBO interim super middleweight title bout.
Benn clears another hurdle
British welterweight Conor Benn moved a significant step closer to being relicensed in the United Kingdom on Thursday when U.K. Anti-Doping elected not to appeal the Nov. 6 decision by the country’s National Anti-Doping Panel to lift Benn’s provisional suspension that would free him box again in his home country.
After the NADP lifted the suspension, UKAD had 21 days to file an appeal but announced it would not file one.
UKAD said in a statement Friday that it had completed a review of the NADP decision and “following the expiry of UKAD’s appeal deadline, we can confirm that UKAD has decided not to file an appeal with the National Anti-Doping Panel.”
However, as UKAD pointed out in its statement, Benn still faces one more potential issue.
“As with all anti-doping cases and in accordance with the UK Anti-Doping Rules, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has a separate right of appeal and an extended deadline to file any appeal,” UKAD said in its statement.
Barring that unlikely event — WADA has 21 days to file an appeal — Benn (23-0, 14 KOs), 28, who has denied doping, will be permitted to fight at home for the first time since a second-round knockout of Chris van Heerden in April 2022.
England’s Benn has been mired in a two-year battle with U.K. regulators over positive tests for performance enhancing drugs. He was scheduled for a pay-per-view main event against Chris Eubank Jr. in a 157-pound bout on Oct. 8, 2022, but it was canceled a few days beforehand when the results of one of his two failed Voluntary Anti-Doping Association tests for the banned substance Clomiphene came to light.
Benn has been unable to get a license to box in the U.K. since and has been in a non-stop battle with the British Boxing Board of Control and British testing agency UKAD since.
The two potential fights that could mark Benn’s return to a British ring — he has fought twice in the United States during the doping saga — are either rescheduling the mega fight with Eubank Jr. or challenging WBC welterweight titlist Mario Barrios.
The fight with Eubank is by far the biggest one he could make and one that has been in high demand by the British public as a continuation of the rivalry their fathers, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr., had in a pair of popular battles 30 years ago.
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked two of the fights on Saturday’s Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN: the main event of Sunny Edwards against Galal Yafai for the vacant WBC interim flyweight title and the co-feature, welterweight Conah Walker against Lewis Ritson. We also took viewer questions and comments and discussed the latest boxing news! Please check out the show here:
Quick hits
Weights from Birmingham, England, for the Matchroom Boxing card on Saturday (DAZN, 2 p.m. ET): Sunny Edwards 111 pounds, Galal Yafai 111.4 (for vacant WBC interim flyweight title); Conah Walker 146.6, Lewis Ritson 146.9; Kieron Conway 159.6, Ryan Kelly 159.3 (for vacant Commonwealth middleweight title); Cameron Vuong 138.6, Gavin Gwynne 138.6; Hamza Uddin 112.3, Benn Norman 111.4; Troy Jones 173.6, Michael Stephenson 173.4; Aaron Bowen 162.2, James Todd 163; Ibraheem Sulaimaan 131.8, Marvin Solano 133.8; Taylor Bevan 168.9, Greg O’Neill 167.9; Callum Smith 179.8, Carlos Galvan 175.6.
WBA junior welterweight titlist Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela will make his first defense against Gary Antuanne Russell on the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach Jr. Prime Video PPV undercard on March 1 in Brooklyn, New York, sources with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite. Valenzuela (14-2, 9 KOs), 25, a Mexican southpaw, won the title from Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz via split decision on Aug. 3. Fellow PBC fighter Russell (17-1, 17 KOs), 28, of Capitol Heights, Maryland, is coming off a split decision loss challenging Alberto Puello for the vacant WBC interim belt in June. Puello was elevated to full titlist when Devin Haney vacated, at which point he also inherited Haney’s obligation of facing mandatory challenger Sandor Martin. The WBC also mandated that the winner of Puello-Martin had to face Russell next. However, Russell instead opted to face Valenzuela when offered the shot.
The IBF has ordered a final heavyweight title eliminator between Martin Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs), 32, a Congo native fighting out of Scotland, and Efe Ajagba (20-1, 14 KOs), 30, a 2016 Nigerian Olympian fighting out of Stafford, Texas, for the right to become titleholder Daniel Dubois’ mandatory challenger, although Dubois is first expected to defend against Joseph Parker on Feb. 22. Bakole promoter Queensberry and Ajagba promoter Top Rank have until Dec. 11 to conclude negotiations for the bout, which both fighters indicated in writing to the IBF they were interested in pursuing. If there is no deal the IBF will schedule a purse bid.
Souleymane Cissokho (17-0, 9 KOs), 33, of France, suffered a broken hand in sparring, forcing a postponement of a WBC welterweight final eliminator against former title challenger Egidijus Kavaliauskas (24-2-1, 19 KOs), 36, of Lithuania, scheduled for Dec. 7 at the Sipopo Congress Center in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in Africa, Boxium Promotions announced. “Following medical advice, it was determined that Souleymane cannot compete at his best,” Boxium Promotions said in a statement. “The health and safety of our athletes remain our top priority. We wish Souleymane a speedy recovery and will announce a new date for the fight soon.” The winner will become the mandatory challenger for WBC titlist Mario Barrios.
Former middleweight and super middleweight titlist Felix Sturm (44-6-3, 19 KOs), 45, of Germany, will end a 14-month layoff on Feb. 15 at Ratiopharm Arena in Neu-Ulm, Germany, in the main event of an AGON Sports card, the promoter announced. Sturm, who has been fighting at light heavyweight, will face a foe to be named. Sturm, who has had stops and starts in recent years due to legal and PED issues, has been a pro since 2001 following an appearance in the 2000 Olympics. In his most famous fight, he lost a controversial decision and the WBO middleweight title to Oscar De La Hoya in 2004. “I am ready to continue writing my story and am looking forward to getting back into the ring to offer my fans another spectacle,” said Sturm, one of Germany’s most popular fighters. “Negotiations for my opponent are in the final phase and we will be able to announce him soon. I can already reveal this much: it will be a boxer from Germany.”
Super middleweight Callum Simpson (15-0, 10 KOs), 28, of England, will defend the British and Commonwealth titles against countryman Steed Woodall (19-2-1, 12 KOs), 30, on Jan. 11 (Peacock in U.S., Sky Sports in U.K.) at Canon Medical Arena in Sheffield, England, Boxxer announced on Friday. Simpson will make the first defense of the titles he won by wide decision from Zak Chelli in August. WBC women’s interim lightweight titlist Caroline Dubois (10-0, 5 KOs), 23, who is the younger sister of IBF heavyweight titlist Daniel Dubois, will face Jessica Camara (14-4, 3 KOs), 36, of Canada, who has won four fights in a row, in a 10-round nontitle bout in the co-feature.
Show and tell
There is no dispute that the “Rocky” films are awesome (well, except for No. 5, which we more or less disavow). The first one was the 1976 Oscar winner for best picture as Rocky Balboa lost his unexpected bid for the heavyweight title but went the distance. In “Rocky II,” our protagonist won the heavyweight championship in the dramatic conclusion in his rematch with Apollo Creed. “Rocky III” is my personal favorite of the series as Rocky encountered a new rival in all-time bad guy Clubber Lang (famously played by Mr. T) against whom he lost the title and then regained it all while dealing with the death of beloved trainer Mickey and having a now-retired Apollo train him to get back the “eye of the tiger.”
And then along came “Rocky IV,” which featured Apollo’s death at the hands of uber bad guy Ivan Drago, the Russian monster played by Dolph Lundgren, in an exhibition. Rocky, of course, had to avenge his death and famously went to Moscow and knocked out the machine on Christmas Day to help end the Cold War (Google it if you don’t get it) in another great movie. “Rocky IV” was released in theaters on Nov. 27, 1985 — 39 years ago on Wednesday. Here is an Ivan Drago rookie card in my collection from the 66-card Topps “Rocky IV” set released in conjunction with the film.
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Photos: Edwards-Yafai and Benn: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
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Isn’t Ryan Kelly the guy whose ear got all fucked up in the WBSS a few years ago?
What is happening with pbc and prime they only had 5 fights this year and 4 were ppv and next year they start off with 2 ppvs I thought their contact was 14 fights a year ppv and non ppv