1 October 2024
Picture By Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing
The fighters face off.
| Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Sport Chairman: “This is a major night for British boxing, November 30, back in Birmingham, as we continue this great run of shows in the Midlands, and this time we’ve got a domestic classic for you. The man to my right, Sunny Edwards, the former World champion, the man who went out to attempt to unify against Bam Rodriguez, fighting one of Birmingham’s greatest ever fighters, and certainly their best amateur fighter, the Olympic gold medalist Galal Yafai. It’s exactly the kind of fight that we want to make, a pure 50-50 domestic match-up for the WBC Interim World championship, live and exclusive on DAZN around the world. “There’s so much more talent on the top table with me and after his performance on Saturday in Sheffield and moving to 5-0, Ibrahim ‘Spider’ Suleiman. Ibrahim is a fighter that we’ve worked with for a long time now, and I’ve always felt like he’s part of the family. Sometimes you feel like you don’t really need contracts and when I first met Jaykae and talking to him, the belief and popularity Ibrahim has in this city, we were on board. But today we officially announce a new multi-year partnership with Ibrahim and welcome him officially to the Matchroom team. “I’m really excited about our young talent, and you are going to see a number of major signings worldwide over the next couple of weeks, and it’s really important that we invest in the young talent in this country. It’s a pivotal moment for British boxing at the moment, you’ll have seen on social media the changes that we’re making to the schedule, to the product, start times, everything, but it all stems off of young talent.“I think Hamza Uddin is one of the best young fighters in the world, not just in Birmingham or the UK, I think this kid has got superstar potential. He had a little hand injury, and we couldn’t carry on his momentum, but he’s got a big step up on November 30 against Benn Norman, the Area champion, and I think this kid is going to go on and win World titles. “I watched Aaron Bowen box in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and I couldn’t believe the support he had. He started his career off like a train bringing hundreds and hundreds of people from Coventry to his fights, and after 15 months out of the ring with injury, it’s like we’ve got a brand new prospect on our hands with Aaron. “Cameron Vuong is on holiday but he’s in a great fight with Gavin Gwynne, and I think we need to give Cameron a lot of credit and respect with the speed he’s moving, I put Cameron in the same mould as Hamza and this fight is a very, very tough one. “When we were making this card I wanted something Before the Bell, something local and domestic, and I said to our matchmaker Tom Dallas ‘give me a war, a local kid that’s going to sell a load of tickets and have a war’. He threw up the English Lightweight championship between Troy Jones and Michael Stephenson. Troy is from Birmingham, undefeated, sells a huge amount of tickets, and it is very important to make these fights for the undercard. “Here are two guys that we’re very fond of, last time out Conah Walker, it was such a brilliant, brilliant fight with Lewis Crocker, one that could have gone either way. I know Conah feels he won the fight, but for me, it’s one of the fights of the year. And when you talk about heart and guts, this kid just epitomises it. This is why records are for DJs, they are so deceiving, you look at Conan’s record and maybe you are not sure about him, but he’s a real handful. Lewis Ritson has been there and done it all, and this is a real throwback fight, a brilliant Welterweight fight. We talk about ‘winner stays on’ a lot, but this is almost like ‘loser goes home’ – neither guy can afford to lose. They are both coming off a defeat, it’s must-win for them both and the styles will gel beautifully.” Sunny Edwards: “What I think it is, and it’s probably the same for Galal, I feel like we both chase competition. We’ve both spent the best part of the last ten years going around the world and facing the best challenges or trying to. I don’t fear losing, I don’t fear the harm another person can do to my body, especially at my size. I like challenges so it’s never about this fight or that fight, it’s ’Eddie, what fight do you want?’ Because you should want the biggest fights as you aren’t in the business of promoting small fights. I don’t really care and I’m never going to be scared of anyone that weighs 112lbs. Galal is one of the best in the world and he has been for a few years now, especially in the amateurs and in the Olympics, and he’s shown that he’s taken to the pro game like a duck to water, and he’s done everything asked of him. I know that some people maybe asking if this is too soon, or wondering why the fight is happening, but I was always ready for this fight, it was inevitable. Maybe I thought it would take a little bit longer, but we’ve got the fight now, I’m happy for it and I’m looking forward to it. “It’s the same reasons that I pretty much beat everyone else. My footwork, my IQ, my decision making, my engine, my activity during rounds. I’m very hard to win rounds against. Galal is a fantastic fighter, a great operator, but for me the best thing about this fight is it’s going to give the fans again something to watch back and the only time that’s really happened in my career so far is when I lost to Bam, so I want to have that fight that I can watch back and win. Yes, I can always box and move but it doesn’t make for the best spectacle, but against Galal, we just get in there and having it out straight away, we’re never too far from each other, one two steps at a time. I’m just looking forward to a great fight, former World champion against former Olympic Gold medialist, the Edwards and Yafai names have been partnered for years before me and Galal even, and if you look at Fly or Super-Flyweight accolade or achievement over the last five-ten years of British boxing it’s come from and Edwards or a Yafai. The names have been together so now it’s about seeing what name is that little bit further in front. “I’ll be real, I really like Galal. We’ve spent a lot of time sparring, we’ve spent time on Team GB together, and even when he’s your rival because he’s getting picked for stuff over you, it’s not really about that. I’ve had a good relationship with Kal, Gamal said a few things on social media whether he’s trying to get in my head or sell the fight, or just let me know that he doesn’t like me, it doesn’t really matter to me, the fight is between me and Galal, we’re representing the Edwards name and the Yafai name, and it’s a great fight for Birmingham, it’s a massive card for this part of the world, there’s some fantastic fighters up and down this card, and it’s what British boxing should be. I don’t see another British fighter out there around my division that would bring as much to the fight as Galal will. “Not sure about this stuff with Rob!) My question was never whether Galal was good enough or should have gone to the Olympics, my question was more at the system. The same person who was not only training his brother but making the decisions on who got sent where and when to the qualifiers and what not, is also the same person that’s negotiating with Eddie about this fight and also the same person who is going to be in the ring on fight night, and they are still training at the same gym that was lottery funded. For me, it just seems like the game is a bit skewed, why have I got to walk into a system where there are already connections above my head and fast-forward eight years, I’m still battling that same set up and they are still using tax payers and lottery money to run their gym and pay the physios, the analysts, the nutritionists, the corner men, and the flats that they stay in over the road. And for me it just stinks a bit that one man has been given this grace that he can decide who is the Olympians and then sign them and train them out of the same gym, to me that seems a bit crazy.” Galal Yafai: “I know that there were a few complaints about me fighting on Saturday but it’s something that I had to do, I’m selfish, I have got to be the best Galal Yafai going in to fight Sunny, and I will make sure that I am the best. He wants to win, I want to win and there will be one winner on the night, and the certain winners will be the fans. “I’ll show everyone on November 30. He’s got his game plan; I’ve got my game plan. But if anyone had seen our spars, they’d know it’s a proper fight. I know we’re Flyweights and we’re small, and people don’t care as much about it, but this is a proper fight. I’m not coming to take the money and live off that, I’m coming to do what I have to do and I’m sure he is as well. “They were good spars, 50-50. I’m not going to sit here and bullshit and say I beat him up, they were competitive. Sunny is stubborn, I’m stubborn, that’s what is going to make it a good fight. Do you think I’m going to allow Sunny to come to Birmingham and just run rings around me? And do you think he’s just going to let me pressure him and beat him up? It’s not going to happen, we’re both going to do what we can to win. “I’m always quiet because the guys that I fight don’t speak English! With Sunny, people don’t really know that we fought nearly ten years ago, this has been bubbling for years and years. He went on to win a World title, I went on to win Olympic gold, we’ve both done our bit and we’re here now at the crossroads, and trust me, I do not want to Sunny, and he doesn’t want to lose to me.” Conah Walker: “The last fight was what it was, I don’t want to revisit it in terms of the result or scorecards, I’ve taken a lot from it. We had a chat after and that put a good spin on a bad situation, and look now, I’ve got Lewis Ritson. I’ve been a fan of his watching him when I was coming up in the amateurs and he was doing things we could only dream of. He was the fastest to win the British title outright, he was obliterating guys, but I think with my run of form I just think I’m going to be that much better and our styles will gel. Neither of us are slicksters, last time out against Paddy, Paddy just wasn’t there so it was hard for him to show anything, he won’t have that problem with me. We’re going to meet in the middle and the toughest survives. “I’m expecting to double what I did last time and bring more, obviously I’ve gained a few fans from the last fight and I believe that this is where I should be, rightly so. I should be on this table and on this side of the table, I’ve worked my arse off to get here and I’m here to stay. We’re working hard in the gym, polishing the edges, and every time I fight, I’m becoming a more complete fighter. I just want to keep ticking the boxes, Lewis Crocker was a difficult fighter but me doing that, proves where I am at. He’s highly ranked and touted to be the next big thing at world-level, so surely that is the same for me? So I am looking forward to the future.” Lewis Ritson: “I’ve got a really hard fight with Conah, he took his chance against Cyrus and he’s just getting better and better but we’re here to upset the applecart and we’re more than 100 per cent confident that we can do that. “I’ve got the ringrust off, I’m coming in off the loss to Paddy but I hadn’t been in the ring for a year and a half. Styles make fights and Paddy wasn’t the right style for me, I believe Conah is and we’re the right style for each other. It can’t be nothing but a barnstormer, it’s make or break for both of us so we have to win and we’re coming in as fit as we can and hopefully we can pull it off. “We both like to come forward, we both like the body shots, we like to stand there and not give much ground. It’s survival of the fittest, Conah’s got a good engine on him, but we know what we have to do on the night, we need to be fitter than him, stronger than him, tougher than him, and we think we can do that.” Troy Jones: “This is what I’ve been working towards. I’ve done my apprenticeship. He told the story about asking for the fight at the 5k, but I tell you what kid, be careful what you ask for. He’s coming into the Lion’s Den, and he’s going to find out on November 30. “This is the platform that I need, and you’ll have me back, Eddie.“Fair play for asking for the fight, but everyone will find out what I’m about. There’s going to be plenty of noise and the Midlands has got some good talent, so it’s a good time to be up and coming in the Midlands, and I couldn’t ask for a better card to be on .“There’s no pressure, there’s only pressure when you don’t do the work in the gym. I know what I can do in the ring. This is what dreams are made of, I’ve been fighting on small hall shows, so it’s already a dream come true, but when I do the business on November 30, they’ll know who I am then, and I won’t let anyone down.” Michael Stephenson: “I went to the Matchroom 5k with Terence Crawford last week and saw Frank Smith running. I went up to him and said ‘Frank, get versus Troy for the English title’. A week later my manager rang me and said ‘you’re on the show’. If you don’t ask you don’t get, so thank you. “There’s a lot of talent in Northampton and it’s coming through, so watch out for us.“I’m going in there with a winner’s mentality. If I go in there as the underdog, it’s not going to work out well. I’ve had two losses, but they were two learning fights. I know what Troy is about, and he’s going to have a hard, hard night.” Hamza Uddin: “I can’t wait, I’m a fighting man and I can’t wait to get my hands on someone and punch them in the face. I’m not even from Birmingham but the noise here is great, I bring a lot of support and there’s a reason why, it’s because I’m down to earth, I love my people and I’ve got an exciting style, people like to tune in to watch me and I’m just doing my thing. “It’s a big step-up but it’s what I asked Sam for, I needed a big step-up, but I have every trick in the book. Everyone will tell you about my power and rightly so, but I have more than power. In my first fight I knocked out a Bantamweight, in my last one smashed up a Super-Bantamweight, but this is the first fight at Flyweight and that is my weight, and the world is going to know that Hamza Uddin is a big problem at Flyweight.” Aaron Bowen: “I’m grateful to Matchroom and all the sponsors that I have, and for the city of Coventry too. Those times were tough, watching everyone else carry on while I was sat on the sidelines, but the people got me through it and there will be big numbers coming to the show, it couldn’t have been a better show to come back on. I owe it to them as much as I owe it to myself and on November 30 we’re coming to make some noise and start that journey back to a World title. “I’m sparring World title contenders and I handle myself fine in there. I do believe I can move quickly, I’ve had the amateur pedigree, the support I get, there’s no reason I can’t be a main event or co-main event and I truly believe I am going to get there.” Ibraheem Sulaimaan:“It’s a bad cut but we’ve got to accept it and move on, it’s part of the game. Hopefully it heals quickly, and we’re back out ASAP. We’ve got a plan and now I’ve signed the contract, we can move forward with that plan, we’re ready to conquer the world and take it one step at a time to see my name at the top.” |
Please follow and like us:
