CHARLIE EDWARDS has joined Matchroom and will make his professional debut on the January 31 show at the O2, a bill topped by Anthony Joshua.
Small in stature he may be but Charlie has big ambitions. “If all goes well and I’m progressing really nicely and I go through domestic level, I’d love to fight and love to get in a ring with Zou Shiming. I’ve been round the amateurs and he was as top amateur,” Edwards told Boxing News. Shiming is a two-time Olympic gold medallist and now a massive draw in China. “The money he brings to the table for flyweight, you’d be stupid not get in there with him. I’d love to get in there with him and hopefully I can give him a beating. He isn’t unbeatable, I’ve seen the way he fights and he’s still got an amateur style. That’ll be a massive potential fight, maybe in a few years time. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”
The Croydon boxer will start his professional journey at flyweight but ultimately expects to move up through the divisions. “I don’t want to stay at one weight. I’m tall enough to be a bantamweight. I always work hard and put everything into this,” said Charlie. “[Promoter Eddie Hearn] has got a plan for me, two four-threes, then two six-threes and then jump straight into two eight [rounders] and, depending on what position I’m in at the time, maybe challenge for a title after that. Because in the flyweight division there isn’t much out there – you can move quickly. That’s what I’d like to do.
“It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been on the [GB] squad for six years and now this is showtime, I’m really looking forward to it.
“I just can’t wait to get in that ring and under them lights and prove to everyone how good I am.”
He also has a message for former GB team-mate Anthony Joshua, who headlines the show. “Eddie wants me to be a TV floater so hopefully Joshua gets Kevin Johnson out of there and he puts me on,” the 21-year-old said. “I’ll be ready on the night, it’s going to be such an excitement being there, to perform and to know that I’m going to get pushed on Sky, it’s going to do me great, it’s going to build my career and hopefully bring fans in as well.”
Also on the O2 bill, Anthony Joshua fights the USA’s Kevin Johnson, Kevin Mitchell takes on Daniel Estrada, Tommy Martin fights Ricky Boylan for the vacant English light-welterweight title and John Wayne Hibbert boxes Tyler Goodjohn.
