IBF flyweight champ Sunny Edwards ready to jump up weight classes to face a real test

Sunny Edwards has talked about jumping up a couple of weight classes to test himself against a ring legend.

The 26-year-old from Croydon is 19-0 after successfully defending his IBF flyweight title against Felix Alvarado in Sheffield last weekend.

And Edwards has name-checked fearsome Japanese puncher Naoya Inoue – the unified bantamweight champion – as the kind of test he would be up for taking.

Edwards has tried to get a unification in his weight class with Julio Cesar Martinez but claims the WBC king is “running scared”.

“I’m already half-looking out of the division,” Edwards told 5Live Boxing. “I’ve cleared up my mandatory [challenger] and then, in my voluntary, I fought the next highest-rated IBF challenger – so I went number one to number two – and then I’ve fought the number three [Alvarado].

“I can’t just sit here and exist in the fights that are dangerous for less credit and less praise whereas if I got someone from a weight above, two or three levels below, then they are bigging me up five times as much because people know him.

“I still want the best. I do not care to sit here and protect a perfect professional record. If I get to that it is because of hard work, dedication and doing what I need to do every time.

“I will find out my limit in boxing potentially, because I will reach whatever potential I can. I will put myself in a test where I am a 50-1 underdog. I’ve never had remotely that. I want a fight two or three weights above [against] the killer – the number one. That’s what I want at some point in my career. I promise you that is what I’ll get and what I aim for.

“I’m talking jumping up two weights and fighting Inoue – blow people’s minds. It doesn’t matter if I fight a journeyman or they are European champion, British champion or world champion – they all fall into how I want them to fight, every single time.”

Edwards won by scores of 115-113 (twice) and 116-112 against Alvarado.

“Felix Alvarado is a phenomenal puncher and I sat there and mixed it with him,” said Edwards. “I rode shots, took shots, threw shots, and if I can do that against him then I can do it against anyone.

“I had the fight 8-4 or 9-3 in my favour, I don’t know what some of the scorecards were about.”

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