Pick It: Sunny Edwards vs. Galal Yafai
When to Watch: Saturday, November 2 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time (7 p.m. GMT)
How to watch: DAZN
Why to Watch: This fight brings a lot to the table. Outside of the ring, there is a longstanding rivalry and interfamily drama. Inside of the ring? This fight is a crossroads bout between a former titleholder in Edwards and an undefeated prospect in Yafai, each vying for a foothold in the flyweight division.
This won’t be the first time Edwards and Yafai have fought. But it’s been a long time.
They were both amateur boxers in 2015, when Edwards won a split decision. Yafai wound up on the national team representing the United Kingdom in the Olympics in August 2016. Edwards instead turned pro that September.
That means Edwards (21-1, 4 KOs) has done a lot more in the paid ranks. He won a world title in April 2021, outpointing 112-pound titleholder Moruti Mthalane. Edwards made four successful defenses but lost his IBF belt in December 2023 in a unification bout with Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, who stopped Edwards after nine rounds.
There’s little shame in losing to a pound-for-pound great like Rodriguez. Edwards, a 28-year-old from London, still needs this win. His rebuilding began this June with a cut-shortened technical decision over the 24-5-1 Adrien Curiel. This fight with Yafai would get him one step closer — the bout is for the WBC’s interim flyweight belt, making the winner the mandatory challenger for Kenshiro Teraji.
That’s of course what Yafai (8-0, 6 KOs) wants as well. He’s 31 years old and likely in his physical prime, which means he needs to develop faster than most prospects this early into their pro careers.
Yafai only turned pro in 2022. That’s because he remained in the amateur system following his early exit in the 2016 Games, where he was sent packing in his second fight of the light flyweight tournament. Yafai returned in the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021 due to the pandemic) as a flyweight and fared much, much better.
He won the gold medal.
This will be the third fight of 2024 for the resident of Birmingham, England, and he’ll be performing in front of his home crowd at Resorts World Birmingham. In April, Yafai scored an eight-round TKO over the 21-1 Agustin Mauro Gauto. In September, with this Edwards fight already signed, Yafai remained busy with a three-round stoppage of the 9-8 Sergio Orozco Oliva.
Meanwhile, they aren’t the only members of their families with history. There’s the matter of their older brothers, former flyweight titleholder Charlie Edwards and former junior bantamweight titleholder Khalid “Kal” Yafai.
Those two “sparred hundreds of rounds together during their time on Team GB, and their title reigns overlapped,” wrote John Evans for BoxingScene last year. “The fight would have been much more lucrative and high profile had they fought sometime around 2019 when they were both unbeaten world champions, something Edwards insists he was keen on making happen.”
They never met and likely never will. Kal Yafai retired last year after being knocked out in one round by Jonathan Rodriguez.
But back to Sunny Edwards and Gal Yafai.
In addition to being in line for a fight with Teraji, the winner will move forward in a division where the other titleholders are Angel Ayala (IBF), Seigo Yuri Akui (WBA) and Anthony Olascuaga (WBO).
These are two fighters who share a past. Now they meet again with the future on the line.
Meanwhile, the undercard includes a domestic level dust-up between middleweights Kieron Conway (21-3-1, 6 KOs) and Ryan Kelly (19-4-1, 8 KOs), as well as appearances by a number of prospects.
More Fights to Watch
Wednesday, November 27: Deontae Pettigrew vs. Fabio Maldonado (BXNG TV)
The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (midnight GMT).
Pettigrew (13-0, 9 KOs) is a heavyweight from Chicago headlining just outside of the Windy City at the The Dome at Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont. The 35-year-old stands 6-foot-6, turned pro in June 2021, and is coming off a third-round knockout of the 20-3 Onoriode Ehwarieme this past April.
Maldonado (30-10, 29 KOs) has an impressive number of knockouts but has scored them against no-hopers. The resident of Sorocaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil, will have disadvantages in age (he’s 44) and height (he’s 6 feet tall). In his last outing, Maldonado was put away in two rounds in July by a former light heavyweight whose name you’ll recognize: Andrzej Fonfara.
Thursday, November 28: Ardy Katompa vs. Sabelo Ngebinyana (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (6 p.m. GMT).
Katompa (6-0, 5 KOs) is a 20-year-old from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. He has been fighting at junior featherweight and featherweight. This bout will be in the 122-pound weight class. Last month, Katompa won a split decision over the 7-4 Sange Ngoza.
Ngebinyana (15-9-2, 11 KOs) is a 32-year-old from Cape Town. He hasn’t won a fight in 28 months and has gone 0-4-2 in his last six outings. In July, Ngebinyana lost a unanimous decision to the 32-14-4 Fadhili Majiha.
This fight will take place at Sandton Shul Hall in Johannesburg.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
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