Charlie Edwards isn’t happy.
It has been heavy sledding for the 30 year old since he vacated his WBC flyweight title back in 2019. Edwards has notched up three low key victories but has been searching for a way back into the mix.
He thought he had found one.
“I’m pissed off to be honest. Absolutely f——-g fuming to see the Kal Yafai fight get announced,” Edwards told Boxing Social. “After Eddie [Hearn] saying no easy fights any more, a lot of the prospects are getting chucked in the deep end and Kal Yafai turns down a fight with me.”
Yafai has only boxed once himself since losing his title to Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez, who dominated and stopped him back in February 2020. Last week it was confirmed that he will fight Jonathan Rodriguez in Inglewood for the WBA intercontinental bantamweight title on November 18th, an announcement that has infuriated Edwards.
“I got offered to fight Kal on six and half weeks notice,” he said. “I accepted and said to send me to the offer tomorrow. I wasn’t going to price myself out. I know it’s the opportunity I need to get the ball rolling because it feels like I’ve been frozen out of the sport. I’ve been not managed correctly in my opinion.
“At the time I was trainer-less. I’ve got my little team set up in Portugal and I was going to fly a trainer in to train me for the fight.
“They went back to Kal - we know now that he’s fighting on November 18th, but he didn’t have a fight lined up - and they were trying to get him to take the 11th November, me and him headlining.”
Edwards’ and Yafai sparred hundreds of rounds together during their time on Team GB and their title reigns overlapped. The fight would have been much more lucrative and high profile had they fought sometime around 2019 when they were both unbeaten world champions, something Edwards insists he was keen on making happen. If they missed one window to meet, another one seems to have opened. A win might just provide the victor with a platform from which to launch a late career revival. Instead, 34-year-old Yafai has decided to try and put himself back in the big fight picture by winning a ranking belt and Edwards once again finds himself on the outside.
“That’s the biggest fight for both of our careers. It’s a big British dust up, the fans would bite on it. There’s history between us,” Edwards said. “I’ve been calling him out for years and he’s been turning me down for years saying that I’m not worth this, that and the other. He’s took three times less [money] to run off to America to fight a handpicked opponent for a vacant title. It’s just not good enough. No wonder the sport of boxing is dying. Fans want to see actual fights. When you’ve got two former champions and one’s up for fighting but the other one’s just not entertaining a British dust up that everyone gets behind, it’s sickening.
"I know Matchroom and Eddie Hearn wanted to make the fight and Kal waited 24 hours to think about it. I also know his manager was trying to push him into the fight [saying] it makes perfect sense right now.”