Sunny Edwards 'excited' to make first title defence in Dubai

IBF flyweight champ takes on Jayson Mama on Probellum card at Coca-Cola Arena

IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards during media duties at the SSE Arena, London on July 24, 2021. PA

For Sunny Edwards, giving up home advantage and making the first defence of his world title in Dubai was not a difficult decision to make. If it meant he was free to enjoy his favourite week of the year, he was up for it.

Edwards puts his IBF flyweight title on the line on Saturday against Jayson Mama, of the Philippines, at the Coca-Cola Arena.

He had been due to face Mama in September in London, but it was postponed when he suffered an ankle injury.

When they started talking about new dates, he was adamant he did not want to be in the gym for the week between Christmas and New Year.

“New Year’s Day is my birthday and I always said I will fight anytime, anywhere, apart from the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day because it is my favourite week of the year,” Edwards said. “Give me eight weeks either side of that and I am good to go.

“I was being told February and March dates, but Frank Warren [Edwards’ promoter] and Probellum came together and worked something out. It is really exciting to be on Probellum’s first show and I am grateful not to be just boxing once this year.”

Not that Edwards has skipped time in the gym this year. He won his world title with a landslide points decision over long-reigning champion Moruti Mthalane, from South Africa, in London in April. The win made him the second world champion in his family, after his older brother, Charlie, who held the WBC flyweight title from 2018-19.

“I’ve been training all year,” he said. “I came into the new year knowing I had my world title shot lined up. And within five days of that I was back in the gym. I thought ‘if my mandatory gets called, I have to be ready’.

“I did hundreds of rounds sparring, hundreds of miles running.”

Even when he suffered his ankle injury, it only kept him out of the gym briefly, as he swapped running for a gym bike and sat on an office chair to punch a bag.

“Within two weeks I was back sparring again, which was frustrating," he said. "I just couldn’t put my weight on it for a week-and-a-half.

“Boxing is so implemented in my DNA, I don’t know what I would do without it.

“If I don’t spar for 2-3 weeks, I don’t really feel alive. It’s the only thing that makes hair stand up, that physical chess match. It’s all I have ever done since I was 9 years old.”

Having proved himself against Mthalane, where he was simply too quick for the ageing champion, Edwards faces a very different challenge against Mama, one of two UK v Philippines world title fights on the Dubai bill as Paul Butler challenges John Riel Casimero for the WBO bantamweight title.

At 24, Mama is unbeaten in 16 fights, the same record as Edwards, although the Filipino has a notably better stoppage percentage.

“He is what I like to call an ‘aggy fighter’, he likes to have a tear-up, he likes to let shots go,” Edwards said. “He is not like me tip-tapping around, he brings war and heat.

“Maybe I can make this easy, maybe he will drag something out of me. If you go in and think you are levels above someone, you are often shown that you are not."

Edwards has sometimes been criticised for a safety-first approach in the ring, but he insists that there is plenty more to him than he has shown before and he has not spent much time studying videos of his opponent.

“He’s got heavy hands, he likes to plant his feet and he doesn’t seem to care sometimes what is coming back,” Edwards said.

“I don’t like to spend too long studying videos of them against other people, because they will never have been in the ring with someone like me before.

“My scouting mission will be the first three rounds.

“I am expecting a good hard fight. But it is not like last time when I was facing someone with all their man strength and experience. He is a bit younger than me and greener than me.

“And I’ve got some old man tricks up my sleeve.”