At the top of a Wasserman-promoted card at York Hall, Charlie Edwards took the vacant WBC International Silver bantamweight title with a clear points win over ten rounds against Georges Ory.
Edwards had seen his career stall after vacating his WBC flyweight title in 2019, fighting only twice after, due to injury and promotional issues. France’s Ory had previously served as a European and IBO champion and was looking to climb back up the rankings himself.
Edwards (19-1, 7 KOs), who had brother Sunny in his corner with head trainer Stephen Smith, used his height to his advantage almost from the off, establishing a solid jab, bringing his right hand into play too in the opener.
Ory (17-4-1, 2 KOs) showed little ambition in the first couple of frames, although he did come to life in round three, taking advantage of the home favourite choosing not to let his hands go, to have success of his own.
Rounds four and five saw the 31-year-old re-establish control, landing some crisp shots on the counter, and that’s the way the pattern went until the end of the contest, with Edwards choosing the final round to showboat and show his superiority.
Three scores of 98-92 reflected that dominance, and a successful return for the Croydon man, who targeted a showdown with WBO bantamweight champion, Jason Moloney post-fight.
“I’m coming for them all,” Edwards told Pro Boxing Fans.
“I’ve stated the fact that I’d love to fight Jason Moloney.
“He’s fighting a Japanese fighter [Yoshiki Takei] over there [on May 6] for the title.
“So the bantamweight division is over in Japan. I’d love to go over to Japan.”
Egbunike secures Southern Area crown
The preliminaries were headed by a Southern Area title clash, and Kingsley Egbunike gained revenge for a six round defeat to Jordan Dujon (9-4) in 2022, by taking the vacant super welterweight title with a points win over ten rounds.
It was a good, close contest, with Egbunike (9-3-1, 1 KO) adjudged the winner by a 96-94 margin.
Remaining Undercard
Super middleweight prospect Oliver Zaren (11-0, 2 KOs) continued his education, dropping John Harding Jr (11-3-2, 2 KOs) in the opening round before taking an eight round decision win.
At welterweight, Elliott Whale (10-0, 6 KOs) scored a fifth round knockout win against Joseba Diaz. Diaz (7-2, 3 KOs) was down twice from body shots prior to the conclusion.
Tom Welland (4-0, 2 KOs) took a points win over six against Marvin Solano (24-14, 8 KOs) at featherweight, and Don Charles-trained heavyweight, Harvey Dykes (3-0) did the same against Milos Veletic (2-5, 1 KO).
Elsewhere, Christian Fetti (1-0) made a successful professional bow, taking all four rounds of his super featherweight encounter against Eliecer Quezada (24-23-3, 9 KOs) and Jesse Brandon (4-0, 1 KO) did the same against Jakub Laskowski at (4-29-1, 2 KOs) at super lightweight.
Also at super lightweight, Robert Lloyd-Taylor Jr (7-0, 1 KO) secured a 39-37 points win over Denis Hnidek (4-2, 4 KOs).
