Sunny Edwards (21-2, 4 KOs) announced his retirement after losing to Galal Yafai (9-0, 7 KOs) by sixth-round TKO on Saturday night in their interim flyweight title fight WBC at the Resorts World Arena. in Birmingham, England.
(Credit: Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing)
“I don’t want to be here”
The beginning of the end of this night came in the fifth round when Yafai unloaded with a barrage of punches against a trapped Sunny, who was stuck on the ropes, unable to shake as he was forced into place by the size of the much bigger man.
In the sixth, Yafai took Sunny to the ropes again and took off with an unanswered flurry, leaving the referee with no choice but to step in and stop the contest. The time of the stoppage was at 1:10 of the sixth round.
The first signs of trouble
Yafai, 31, had Sunny in trouble in the opening seconds of the first round, unloading on him with a flurry of punches that had the former IBF flyweight champion in trouble. Sunny made it out of the ring, but looked in trouble in the second round. Between the second and third, Sunny told his corner, “I don’t want to be here.”
His trainer tried to give him a pep talk, but he didn’t respond in the subsequent rounds. Sunny seemed mentally disengaged and unmotivated, and did not show the eagerness for combat that he had shown in the past. The confidence was hammered by him in his ninth round defeat against Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez last year on December 16.
It was a similar fight to the one tonight. Sunny fought a much bigger and stronger bam. Couldn’t match it in the size or power department. Tonight was exactly the same thing. Yafai won on size alone.
As great as he was, he should have fought at featherweight against Rafael Espinoza instead of Edwards. It was unbelievable how much bigger Yafai was than Sunny tonight. That would explain why Yafai looked so drained at Friday’s weigh-in. She looked terrible cutting at 112, like a stick figure.
Edwards just didn’t have the size or power to compete against the gigantic Yafai, who looked like a featherweight (126 lbs) in the ring tonight.
There was no way the tiny Sunny, 28, could handle the bigger Yafai, who used his size by repeatedly pulling him to the ropes and keeping him there by giving him hard thrusts.
Yafai’s humble victory
“Sunny is a great champion, but I had to train my ** off for him. I was worried going into camp, knowing how good Sunny was,” said Yafai to Matchroom Boxing following his sixth round knockout win over Sunny Edwards tonight.
“That’s how I always approach it. I wanted to test him,” said Yafai about why he started so fast in the first round. “I think people underestimated me. I don’t want to brag too much, but I won an Olympic gold (2020). I was against the best boxers in the world. The Kazakhs, the Cubans, and great boxers like Sunny. So, I was used to that style.
“It was just my night tonight. Maybe another night, Sunny would have beaten me. Sunny is a technical boxer; he’s on top. He’s a former world champion. He’s #1 in Ring Magainze. He came for a right. We had great spars, but the fights are different.
“Winning a gold in the Olympics is the best success I could ever do, but tonight it was a better feeling beating Sunny than actually standing on the podium. That’s how good Sunny is,” said Yafai.
