Sun Rises: Edwards controls Campos to set up bigger and more interesting fights | Boxing News

IT WAS gone midnight at the Wembley Arena and the words flowed from Sunny Edwards with the speed at which his hands and feet had moved inside the ring an hour earlier.

As expected by many, his Matchroom debut had gone the distance and his hand had been raised after 12 rounds of competitive but reasonably one-sided rounds with little-known yet game Chilean Andres Campos.

It was a case of job done for Edwards but attention immediately turned to what is next for the world’s No.1 flyweight after a performance which only flashed with brilliance without ever really igniting.

“I want the big fights because you will never get the best out of me in a fight like that,” was his honest assessment of the fight and the sparse crowd inside the Arena would have likely agreed.

When he’s in full flow, there is nobody quite like Edwards in world boxing and there is an argument that he is pound-for-pound the most talented boxer in Britain. “That’s all well and good,” he says. “But I need a dance partner.”

The good news is that he has a number of worthy ones waiting in the wings. The frontrunner, according to Eddie Hearn is Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, the brilliant Texan who burst onto the scene with 2022 victories over Carlos Cuadras and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai at super flyweight.

He has since moved down to 112lbs, where he is No.4 in the world, and he was supposed to be ringside at Wembley in order to conduct a face-off once Edwards had won. He did not make the trip in the end but Hearn insists the fight could be signed this week.

“I want the biggest fights,” he adds. “I want to get goosebumps before going to bed because of the event, the stage, the platform. Now it’s up to Eddie. I was told Bam would be here today, the face-to-face was going off. I’ve agreed my side for Bam.

“But the same thing always happens. For whatever reason they want so much to fight me. I don’t know why – I’ve only knocked out four people in 20 wins. I still think they’re weary.

“I’m not sure I’m as confident as Eddie is in getting this fight across the line in the next two weeks. But for October, November, December, I’m ready to go whenever, wherever.”

Edwards was showboating as early as 10 seconds in, looking over his shoulder as Campos missed with his first few warning shots. Referee Howard Foster could only raise his eyebrows. It was a sign of things to come as Edwards controlled the fight despite a worthy effort from Campos.

The Sheffield-based flyweight elected to hold his feet more often than usual and even spent time against the ropes, seemingly at will, in order to dominate from every area of the ring. As such, Judges Phil Edwards, Waleska Roldan and Carl Zappia all scored it 117-111 and the champion said he gave the Chilean three rounds just to keep it interesting. “I was counting them as I went,” he said. “I knew he won three rounds and I knew which ones they were.”

Whether or not that was strictly true is impossible to say, but he was definitely in control from start to finish. It might not be the same against Bam.

Edwards goes to work (Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)

It was a monumental night for Ellie Scotney, who picked up the IBF super-bantamweight title via a unanimous decision over Cherneka Johnson. Scotney, from down the road in Catford, boxed brilliantly against the champion from Melbourne to claim the belt in only her seventh fight as a professional.

The victory came exactly two weeks after her stablemate and close friend Chris Billam-Smith won the biggest fight of his life against Lawrence Okolie in Bournemouth, capping a fine first half of the year for their trainer Shane McGuigan.

In truth, Scotney looked a level above Johnson in the way she went about her work, attacking the body with both hands before switching upstairs with hooks and straight right hands. Johnson was cut badly by Scotney’s head in the sixth round but her corner did a good job to stem the immediate flow of blood. It had little impact on the result anyway as Scotney was a 98-92 winner on the cards of Edwards and Roldan while Zappia had it 97-93.

It has been some ride for Scotney, who was working in B&Q three years ago during the UK’s first lockdown. At 7-0 and 25 years old, she has now firmly arrived on the world stage.

One man who is not quite there yet despite a world class fanbase is Romford heavyweight Johnny Fisher, who disposed of hapless Emilio Salas in 2:07 despite not really landing with anything clean. Southpaw Sala, the New York-based Puerto Rican, had no intention of hanging with Fisher and found a way out after Fisher began to turn the screw. Bob Williams waved it off.

Earlier, Cheavon Clarke claimed the biggest win of his career to date – and he did it in style with a vicious fifth-round stoppage of East Kilbride’s David Jamieson. Clarke dropped the Scot with a right hand in the fourth and then closed the show after 35 seconds of the fifth and although Jamieson was on his feet in plenty of time, Williams had seen enough.

Billericay’s Nina Hughes outclassed late stand-in Katie Healy over 10 twos to retain her WBA bantamweight title. Judges Luigi Boscarelli and Howard Foster both scored it 100-90 while Bertran Chagnoux had it 99-91.

Before that super-featherweight Reece Bellotti secured a hugely significant win in the context of his career when he outworked Youssef Khoumari to claim a unanimous decision over 10. Edwards scored it 97-94, Williams 96-94 and Kieran McCann 97-93 to breathe new life into the Watford man’s career.

There were also victories for Shannon Ryan, George Liddard and Muhammad Ali. Super-flyweight Ryan won her eight-twos clash with Martina Bernile 80-72 on Marcus McDonnell’s card while Williams made super-bantamweight Ali a 40-36 victor against Bryan Castro.

Billericay’s Liddard, meanwhile, went 2-0 (2) via a 2:29 stoppage of Czech Republic man Nikolas Dzurnak.

Verdict: Box ticked for Edwards but he needs a big one next.