SUNNY’S terms are simple. He will come down to flyweight, to fight his older brother, and WBC world champion, Charlie Edwards – but it would have to be for a seven figure sum, Sunny is the A side. And it needs to happen on BT Sport.
“He’s obviously pricing himself out,” says Charlie, who defends his world crown on Saturday (March 23) at the Copper Box Arena live on Sky Sports.
“I mean it’s a unique selling point. If my career starts falling off a bit I might start calling him out,” Sunny reflected. “Before I get to journeyman I’m going to call out Charlie, when I’m on the downward slide.”
“No, it’s hypothetical, it’ll never happen but we have scraps for free,” he added. “We know each other inside out now really but we spar full tilt, when we do spar it’s like a fight and so when everyone goes, ‘Would you two fight?’ We do it for free, do you know what I mean? So maybe… Charlie will be the one that gets more fiery and gets more frustrated.”
Some brothers would never spar. But the Edwards brothers do take each other on in the gym. Rather than fight each other they want to hoover up world titles at flyweight between them. “That’s all fun and games we all joke about for the media and that, but listen me and my brother have got unconditional love. We grew up together, training together pushing each other we always want the best for each other. When I said it before, everyone laughed. I’ll say it again. We want to be the Klitschkos of the light weights. And it can happen,” Charlie said. “We spar, we prepare, we run together. We hit the track together, we do strength and conditioning together. We have got a real brotherly bond and we push each other.
“He’s a very, very good fighter, very tricky, very awkward. You see what he does to fighters in the ring. And his movement’s unbelievable. And I’ve always said this, he’s more talented than me. I work harder. And that’s the difference if we could put me and him together, we would be an ultimate machine. But yeah, we have sparring sessions, we learn off each other day in day out.”
Sunny is rising up the ranks. He will box at Wembley arena on April 27 and then hopes to fight for the British super-flyweight title. “No one will fight me at flyweight. This fight will be at super-flyweight and I’m pushing for the British title at super-flyweight but when I step on to international level and go for world it will be at flyweight. It’s just the fights aren’t there,” Sunny said.
He wants to box Tommy Frank. “He’s just won the Commonwealth, I’ve got my two titles, the British is vacant, let’s go for it,” Sunny said. “I think they might take it because I think Tommy’s a proper fighting man… If it doesn’t happen it’s because they chose to avoid me.”
Older brother Charlie has his own challenge in form of Spain’s Angel Moreno on Saturday. “He’s a very good fighter. Like, he’s not getting the credit he deserves. I’ve actually shared the ring with Moreno, about 24, 28 rounds over in Marbella before the Casimero fight. Yeah, he’s a great, strong fighter. He tries to be awkward at times. And he likes to be flash and arrogant in the ring. So it’s going to heat up to be a real good fight. And it’s going to be a tough test. He’s a world class fighter. But it’s a fight I’m fully confident of shining in. I’m fully confident that my boxing IQ has gone through the roof since I’ve become world champion. It’s crazy. The things I’ve been doing in the gym, working with Grant [Smith], I’m like a sponge. Everything’s improving so much quicker than normal and I suppose that’s with the confidence and belief. It’s made me more hungry being a world champion,” Charlie said. “I want to be a British great and this is my first step on it so my full focus is on Saturday night and he’s going to come and try and steal that title off me. It’s his World Cup final and I’ve got to be on full alert.”
He added, “I don’t see pressure. I see enjoyment when I get in the ring and when I’m in the ring up I love to perform. Against Rosales [for the world title], me and my team, we didn’t believe I was the underdog. The public concern is no relevance to who’s in the ring. It’s two people in that ring and your corner men to give you advice and yeah, I go into every fight like I’m the underdog. Still in my head, even though I’m world champion, I’m still not a world champion because every day I can get better. It’s a title. It’s a history but my goal was never just to become a world champion, it’s to become a British great. And you know what more than anything it’s to push the boundaries, push my limits to the absolute max.”
