It’s Showtime….Sunny Edwards aiming for impressive defence against Campos to cue up flyweight unifications

Sunny Edwards plans on defending his IBF flyweight world title in style against Chile’s undefeated Andres Campos on Saturday at the OVO Arena Wembley before setting his sites firmly on the other champions at 112lbs.

Croydon-raised Edwards (19-0, 4 KOs) is determined to unify the division before moving on to achieve his goal of becoming a multi-weight world champion, and the 27-year-old now finds himself in the perfect place for a unification clash with Mexico’s big-punching WBC ruler Julio Cesar Martinez and San Antonio’s WBO king Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez.

Edward’s Matchroom debut tops a blockbuster triple-header of world title action in the capital, with Nina Hughes (5-0, 2 KOs) defending her WBA bantamweight crown against Katie Healy (6-0) and Cherneka Johnson (15-1, 6 KOs) defending her IBF super-bantamweight strap against Catford’s Ellie Scotney (6-0).

“There’s nowhere for the other champions to hide now,” said Edwards. “One at a time, they will get their turn. What I do is different to anything anyone else does in a boxing ring. The world is waiting, and I think right now I am the number one flyweight in the world. I would argue that I am one of the best flyweights in the world.

“Fight night is my best night of my year, better than my birthday and better than Christmas, it’s the best night of the year. I think Eddie, and the rest of Matchroom and DAZN, they genuinely know that with me, they get a fighter that wants to fight and will fight anyone. I am Sunny ‘Showtime’ Edwards – IBF flyweight world champion and the best flyweight in the world.”

Edwards looked set to face WBC ruler Martinez in a huge unification clash at the back end of last year. The pair were deep in negotiations to stage a showdown in Mexico, but Martinez instead agreed to face mandatory challenger McWilliams Arroyo.

The British star was bitterly disappointed after losing his shot at unifying the division, and believes that it was his Mexican rival that pulled the plug on the fight, instead choosing to face easier opposition in order to keep hold of his world title belt.

“It’s not just that I want all of the belts, I don’t want anyone else to have them,” said Edwards. “It sickens me, it pains me that there’s three other people at my weight that walk around saying the same s**t that I say. The fact that with professional boxing you can’t force someone in the ring with you and they can go round showing of a belt, like look at Martinez for f***s sake – that’s terrible.

“I genuinely believe, how can he even consider himself a world champion? He won it as a vacant title, failed a drugs test, same fights rescheduled rescheduled rescheduled, fighting easy opposition that I’d get slaughtered for. Every single fight that he gets is easy, terrible records like 11-3 and 15-7, like what? You’re meant to be a world champion.

“You’re walking around trying to tell people that you’re anywhere near the fighter that I am. Really, there are people that would agree because he’s a world champion at flyweight. Boxing is just obsolete because you have these world champions headlocking world titles, headlocking good contracts and just taking easy fights. That kills the sport.”

Before any further talks of unification fights can take place, Edwards knows that he must deal with Campos in convincing fashion this weekend, and the Sheffield-based talent insists that his full attention is on the unbeaten 26-year-old.

Campos (15-0, 4 KOs), ranked at seven in the IBF rankings, has held the WBO Latino flyweight belt since March 2020 and the South American, who has called Edwards out before, landed the 15th win of his career in January and fourth inside the distance.

“I’m fighting Andres Campos from Chile and outside of him and his fans, abusing me on Instagram for the last however many years, I don’t really know too much about him. I don’t really care about knowing too much about him. When I get in there it’s the Sunny show. It’s showtime, and there’s not time like showtime. When I get in there, it’s whatever I want it to be. I don’t focus on him. I don’t need to talk about him.”

PICTURES: MARK ROBINSON/MATCHROOM BOXING