Galal Yafai, widely considered the underdog against Sunny Edwards, transformed his career by impressively stopping his rival in six one-sided rounds at Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, England.
He is therefore on course to fight Japan’s Kenshiro Teraji, the WBC flyweight champion, in 2025. The fallout to his dramatic victory – which concluded with Edwards announcing his retirement at the age of 28. regardless persists. Yafai, 31, discusses both.
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Q: How do you reflect on your victory over Sunny Edwards?
It was a great night, beating an old foe in Sunny – and you know what else it showed me? A lot of people really rated him. Really rated him. A lot of people couldn’t come to terms with the fact he got beat so easy, so a lot of excuses were made. “He weren’t right, mentally. He weren’t at his best.” When he was fine. Like when he fought Adrian Curiel [in June]. It’s kind of tainted my win – taken a bit of shine off it – and it was only 11 months ago, before he fought “Bam” [Jesse Rodriguez], he was God’s gift. So it took a bit of shine off my win, but hopefully I can prove in time I’m as good as people maybe don’t think I am.
Q: How frustrating is that?
I don’t want to be disrespectful to Sunny, because we’re alright – we get along. We’re cool with each other. But he’s a smart kid – the comments after the second round got the headlines, which was crazy, really, because someone as smart as Sunny knows you shouldn’t really be saying that when the cameras are on you. I don’t know whether he’s done it on purpose, or he actually feels that way, but he’s smarter than what people think. It was silly, really. If you’re struggling in a fight and you don’t want to be there, you don’t say it out loud to everybody, ‘cause he was fine all camp. I forgot about a lot of things that were said during camp, and even when I fought in Sheffield for my warm-up fight and people slagged me off, Sunny was on comms and he was like, “Why’s he fighting him?” In his interviews he’s going to do this, and go on and fight Kenshiro Teraji and win all the belts, and all of a sudden he’s in the fight, I’m getting on top, and it’s, “I don’t want to be here anymore”. Are you being serious? He’s come out afterwards – he’s had injuries, and niggles, and not really been interested in boxing. We all have niggles – I had an injection in my elbow, 12 days before the fight. It is what it is. You get on with it. I just don’t think he could accept that I beat him so easy.
It’s really frustrating. I’ve worked hard; I’ve done something that a lot of people – most people – thought I couldn’t do, and I’ve done it in a fashion they never thought could happen. So it’s almost come to the stage that they can accept I battered Sunny Edwards for six rounds, and it’s got to be something wrong.
People are going to say, “You’re biased”, which of course I get. That’s why I try not to say too much. I’m not going to lie – it was an easy fight. I don’t want to be disrespectful to Sunny, but it was a really easy fight. But I trained harder for it than I’d ever trained. I can’t really say, “I’m better than [Rodriguez] because I beat him easier”, because I beat Sunny Edwards a year later. I know it’s not four, five, six years later. He looked great in his last fight, Sunny, and people seem to make the excuse, “Bam’s made him like this”, but four or five months ago he was fine – he was brilliant. He was ranked number one with The Ring Magazine. He’s 28 years old. It’s not like he’s had four stinkers after Bam Rodriguez, is 36 years old, and well off it. Eleven months ago he was the man in the division. Four months ago he schooled Curiel. He’s three, four years younger than me. Excuses are crazy, but people are fickle. But it is what it is. I’ll prove it in time, won’t I?
Q: Was it easier than you expected?
Yeah, it was. But, also, I just didn’t think it would be a hard fight. I’ve sparred him for a few years now; I sparred him way before he fought Rodriguez, for my debut in 2022, and sparring was fine. I wouldn’t say it was like the fight, but if I’d had little gloves on I would have done exactly what I did in this fight. It just played out how I probably thought it was going to play out; I probably thought it’d take a bit longer. But after seeing the comments of people saying he’s going to outbox me for the first six and then I’m gonna come on, like I’m a Mexican plodder – I just thought it was ridiculous.
Q: Do you believe he will stay retired?
I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. But he’s young – he’s 28. Sometimes I forget that he’s 28, so he’s not like a 38 year old – he can come back whenever he wants. If I was going to bet my house on it I probably would say he’ll come back, yeah.
Q: Given your relationship and history, what was it like, post-fight, with Edwards behind the scenes?
In the hotel we had pictures exchanged, and we had a chat. My brother had a chat with him. To be fair, he took it well – we’re actually fine with each other. I know he’s a bit of a different character, compared to normal – he’s a bit more outspoken. But he’s good for boxing. Some people might like him and some people might not. But we was okay during the whole build-up. It’s just business.
We speak after sparring quite a bit. He just said, “Hopefully go on and be the best in the division”, and hopefully I can. But not much, other than that, was changed.
Q: How distracting was the tension between Charlie Edwards and your brother Kal?
I got used to it through the whole camp. Normally I’m not used to it, but because it happened over the week – the week as well was a bit crazy, with them going back and forth – I kind of got immune to it. If I hadn’t been used to it, and it just sprung on me like that, and I hadn’t seen it all week or for the months leading up to the fight, I probably would have been uncomfortable. “I’m not used to this.” Bits of it I just blurred out. “I’m not interested.”
Q: What are your plans for 2025?
I’d had eight fights going into that fight. I think, “Bloody hell, I’ve done alright”. I beat Sunny Edwards, who was ranked number one with The Ring Magazine. I won the interim world title, and yeah it’s not a world title, but it puts me in place to fight the full champion Kenshiro Teraji. He’s a great fighter, but he’s definitely a fighter I can beat.
I’d like to think [Teraji will be next], but you never know in boxing. If I was going to put my house on it I’d probably say it’s not going to happen next. I just do the training and fighting, and let the team sort things out.
Maybe March, April [will be my next fight]. I’d like to think so anyway – I don’t think Matchroom are gonna wanna sit around just waiting. They’re going to want to get me out there fighting again –and hopefully in Birmingham as well, ‘cause I enjoyed fighting in my city. I’m used to fighting in America, but it’s harder to acclimatise and things like that. I could see the difference fighting back at home. You don’t really know if you’re going to get the best possible version of yourself [when you fight on the road]; because I hadn’t fought back at home for a while, I could feel the difference. You just feel better and stronger. It might not even be the truth. I might just have been great that night. But I felt fitter; I felt better fighting at home. But if I have to fight abroad, I have to fight abroad. I did it as an amateur. My last one in [Las] Vegas, yeah, I was fine; I was comfortable. But I just feel much better at home. But that’s up to Matchroom. If I have to go abroad, to Japan or America, I’m happy to do so.
I don’t have much to do with all that side of it. I normally leave it to Rob [McCracken, my trainer and manager], and he normally sorts everything out. I spoke to him a few times. I’ll have a little break – I go on holiday this week [to Dubai, with wife Jovita and baby daughter Nyla] – then get back, have a little rest over Christmas, and I’ll be back in the gym in Sheffield and seeing what’s next. I don’t just want to sit around now. I want to be the full champion. I know people are shouting about the Bam Rodriguez fight – if that can happen in the future, brilliant. But I don’t really call names. I’m happy to fight these guys, but it’s a lot tougher going up a division when I make the weight easy, and then fighting the best in that division. All respect to Bam Rodriguez, he’s a great fighter, but if I can fight him in the future then it’d be a great fight for the fans.
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