Friday night at the Sheffield Arena sees a homecoming for Sunny Edwards, as he returns to fight in the UK with a third defence of his IBF flyweight title, this time against Nicaragua’s Felix Alvarado, a former IBF ruler at light flyweight.
Probellum promote Edwards vs Alvarado and the bout is available to watch on FITE TV.
Edwards (18-0, 4 KOs) has fast made a reputation for himself as one of the premier flyweights in world boxing, and after picking up fringe international belts at super flyweight and flyweight, and a British title in between, he challenged for world honours behind closed doors in April 2021, and turned in a masterclass to dethrone the long-serving IBF flyweight champion, Moruti Mthalane, in a landslide points win.
‘Showtime’ hasn’t been seen in the UK since, instead defending twice in Dubai.
The 26-year-old made a first defence with a points win against Jayson Mama last December, and he was last out in March, easing past Muhammad Waseem in another unanimous victory.
He now faces Alvarado (38-2, 33 KOs), a big puncher, who is unbeaten in over eight years.
The 33-year-old’s last defeats came back-to-back, losing on the cards for the WBA light flyweight title in December 2013 to Kazuto Ioka, and he was then outscored by Juan Carlos Reveco for the WBA flyweight belt six months later.
Since then, ‘El Gemelo’ has only been taken the distance twice in twenty contests, and he won the vacant IBF light flyweight crown in 2018.
He defended twice, and then moved up to flyweight for his last fight in May, a fourth round knockout of Luis Cerrito Hernandez in his native Nicaragua.
Prediction: Edwards is on a roll, and is a hard man to pin down once he is in a rhythm. I think Alvarado will try to catch Sunny cold, but the Brit should remain elusive, and take a comfortable enough win on the scorecards.
Bateson meets Masoud
The undercard sees an intriguing battle for the WBA Intercontinental super bantamweight title, as Jack Bateson defends against Shabaz Masoud. The contest also serves as an eliminator for the British title, currently held by Liam Davies.
Bateson (17-0, 4 KOs) has been something of a slow burner, appearing mainly on smaller shows, but has excelled recently becoming English champion and winning his WBA belt in his last fight, a decision win over ten against Diego Alberto Ruiz.
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Masoud (10-0, 3 KOs), who is trained by Ben Davison, is a stylist and also holds a ten round win over Ruiz, in November last year.
Prediction: I lean towards Masoud to take a points win in this one.
Essomba battles Braithwaite
A final eliminator for the British title takes place at super flyweight, where Thomas Essomba (11-7-1, 4 KOs) and Marcel Braithwaite (13-3) clash over twelve rounds.
Essomba has been matched hard as a professional, and has a very good chance of some much needed progress here against former British title challenger Braithwaite.
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Both men have previously been beaten by Edwards.
Prediction: Essomba has a great engine, and can wear Braithwaite down in the later rounds.
Remaining Undercard
2020 Olympic gold medalist, Hebert Conceicao (2-0, 1 KO) comes to Sheffield, and the middleweight should have too much for Gideon Onyenani (4-1) in what should be a points win after eight rounds.
Unbeaten Leeds-based middleweight, Ishmael Davis (9-0, 3 KOs) is in action here, and ‘The Black Panther’ should deal with Dustin Ammann (7-7, 5 KOs) on the scorecards after eight rounds.
Lisa Whiteside (4-0, 1 KO) will hope to kick on in 2023, and the super bantamweight should take a wide enough points win against Eva Cantos (4-8-1, 1 KO) in their eight rounder.
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The final eight rounder is at super lightweight, where Levi Kinsiona (9-2, 1 KO) will likely need the distance to bank the win against Alin Florin Ciorceri (16-3, 7 KOs).
Jamaican-born super middleweight, Nicolie Campbell (9-1, 2 KOs) can score a stoppage win before the end of his six rounder with Frane Radnic (11-34, 10 KOs), while Khalid Ayub (3-0) can outscore Danail Stoyanov (3-13, 1 KO) over four at light heavyweight.
Bradley Cousins (3-1) should also need the distance to take a points win against Genadij Krajevskij (0-41), also at light heavyweight.
