Galal Yafai targeting fight by end of April

Rob McCracken is to meet Matchroom in an attempt to secure a fight for Galal Yafai by the end of April.

Yafai transformed his career in November when he so impressively stopped Sunny Edwards – who then immediately announced his retirement – and in winning the interim WBC flyweight title he put himself on course to challenge the reigning champion, Kenshiro Teraji of Japan.

McCracken, Yafai’s trainer and manager, has particularly strong links with Matchroom – the 32 year old’s promoters – that extend back to his guiding Carl Froch and later Anthony Joshua, and revealed that Yafai is already back in the gym.

The expectation remains that even if Teraji, 33, isn’t Yafai’s next opponent, a fight between them will happen later in 2025, and McCracken told BoxingScene: “I’m meeting, probably with Frank Smith – maybe Eddie [Hearn] will come – later this week, and obviously we’re looking at plans for Galal, moving forward, and they’ll have some plans when they meet us, so we’ll go from there. But we should know some more by the end of the week. 

“Ideally, [he will fight] mid-to-end of April, early May. Early May’s not the end of the world.”

McCracken is also in the process of preparing Lauren Price for her welterweight unification title fight with Natasha Jonas on March 7 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and after being asked about Yafai’s success against Edwards compared his two fighters’ professionalism – and then Yafai to Froch, who represents his greatest success.

“He was back in the gym two weeks ago,” said McCracken, also the performance director of Team GB. “Him and Lauren have gone on similar paths. They’re both Olympic champions; both southpaws; both really dedicated; both super fit and driven and determined and confident. That’s the thing – they’re very confident people. 

“Galal has been confident since he turned professional, and has learned on the job and fought some really good fighters in my opinion. Gohan Rodriguez was his sparring partner for his last fight [against Edwards], who he had a tough fight with in Abu Dhabi [in November 2022] – a 10 rounder. He sparred him for five weeks for the fight, so he challenges himself and wants the best and we got the best sparring we thought we could for the last bout. He’s really keen to just keep improving and then try and achieve things at world level, which he’s already done, I feel, as a professional. 

“He’s in the gym. He trains all the time. He reminds me a little bit of Carl Froch. Very driven, and very determined to work hard and get the best out of himself – and that’s what Galal does week in, week out.”