Galal Yafai is “frustrated” at not receiving the credit he believes he deserves for retiring Sunny Edwards.
The 31 year old won every minute of every round against his flyweight rival until the referee intervened to rescue Edwards in the sixth.
That Edwards had previously lost only once – to the excellent Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez in December 2023 – had contributed to him widely being expected to win in Birmingham, England in November.
Rodriguez-Edwards has since been cited as a reason Edwards was so unconvincing against Yafai, who proved even more dominant than had Rodriguez. That Edwards could be heard telling his corner at the conclusion of the second round that he didn’t “want to be in there”, had recently split with his long-term trainer Grant Smith, and post-fight declared he had decided to retire “win, lose or draw” potentially provided further reasons to question his performance and therefore Yafai’s.
Yafai, regardless, expects to be rewarded by challenging the WBC champion Kenshiro Teraji in 2025, but he told BoxingScene: “It’s really frustrating. I’ve worked hard; I’ve done something that a lot of people – most people – thought I couldn’t do, and I’ve done it in a fashion they never thought could happen. So it’s almost come to the stage that they can accept I battered Sunny Edwards for six rounds, and it’s got to be something wrong.
“It was a great night, beating an old foe in Sunny – and you know what else it showed me? A lot of people really rated him. Really rated him. A lot of people couldn’t come to terms with the fact he got beat so easy, so a lot of excuses were made. ‘He weren’t right, mentally. He weren’t at his best.’ When he was fine. Like when he fought Adrian Curiel [in June]. It’s kind of tainted my win – taken a bit of shine off it – and it was only 11 months ago, before he fought ‘Bam’ [Jesse Rodriguez], he was God’s gift. So it took a bit of shine off my win, but hopefully I can prove in time I’m as good as people maybe don’t think I am.
“I don’t want to be disrespectful to Sunny, because we’re alright – we get along. We’re cool with each other. But he’s a smart kid – the comments after the second round got the headlines, which was crazy, really, because someone as smart as Sunny knows you shouldn’t really be saying that when the cameras are on you. I don’t know whether he’s done it on purpose, or he actually feels that way, but he’s smarter than what people think. It was silly, really. If you’re struggling in a fight and you don’t want to be there, you don’t say it out loud to everybody, ‘cause he was fine all camp.
“I forgot about a lot of things that were said during camp, and even when I fought in Sheffield for my warm-up fight and people slagged me off, Sunny was on comms and he was like, ‘Why’s he fighting him?’ In his interviews he’s going to do this, and go on and fight Kenshiro Teraji and win all the belts, and all of a sudden he’s in the fight, I’m getting on top, and it’s, ‘I don’t want to be here anymore’. Are you being serious? He’s come out afterwards – he’s had injuries, and niggles, and not really been interested in boxing. We all have niggles – I had an injection in my elbow, 12 days before the fight. It is what it is. You get on with it. I just don’t think he could accept that I beat him so easy.”
Edwards, 28, had beaten Yafai when they remained amateurs. At Tokyo 2020, by when Edwards was a professional world champion, Yafai won flyweight gold.
“People are going to say, ‘You’re biased’, which of course I get,” he continued. “That’s why I try not to say too much. I’m not going to lie – it was an easy fight. I don’t want to be disrespectful to Sunny, but it was a really easy fight. But I trained harder for it than I’d ever trained. I can’t really say, ‘I’m better than [Rodriguez] because I beat him easier’, because I beat Sunny Edwards a year later. I know it’s not four, five, six years later. He looked great in his last fight, Sunny, and people seem to make the excuse, ‘Bam’s made him like this’, but four or five months ago he was fine – he was brilliant.
“He was ranked number one with The Ring Magazine. He’s 28 years old. It’s not like he’s had four stinkers after Bam Rodriguez, is 36 years old, and well off it. Eleven months ago he was the man in the division. Four months ago he schooled Curiel. He’s three, four years younger than me. Excuses are crazy, but people are fickle. But it is what it is. I’ll prove it in time, won’t I?”