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Sunny Edwards Defeats Felix Alvarado Then Calls Out ‘Bam’ Rodriguez

Written by Tom Eaton on 11th November 2022.

Sunny Edwards

The IBF Flyweight world title was on the line as Sunny Edwards (18-0) headlined a Probellum Friday night show, taking on former light-flyweight champion Felix Alvarado (38-2) in an old-fashioned boxer vs puncher contest.

Edwards looked relaxed and in-the-zone from the word go, evading the feared power-punches of the Nicaraguan, who was quietly fancied by many boxing fanatics.

The footwork of Edwards was simply too advanced and too slick, as much as the challenger tried his best to close the distance.

The old boxing 101 adage of ‘make him miss, make him pay’ was very much the story of the fight, as Alvarado consistently missed by wide margins, which only added to Edwards’ notorious confidence.

Although there were moments when Alvarado had Edwards against the ropes, the Brit never looked in any danger and seemed just to be waiting for the right moment to counter.

There was some surprise at the official score cards, as the judges saw the contest closer than most, with two having just one round between them at 115-113 and the third with 116-112.

In his post fight interview Edwards called out Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez.

Earlier in the night, Nicolie Campbell (9-1) opened the show and cruised to a comfortable 60-54 victory against Croatian journeyman Frane Radnic (11-34).

Meanwhile, Leeds’ Ishmael Davis moved to 10-0 as he collected his fourth career knockout, this time stopping Germany’s Dustin Ammann (7-7), through an accumulation of a towel coming in from the away corner, coupled with a few clean shots whilst Ammann was stunned in the corner, before the referee intervened.

Levi Kinsiona (9-2) faced Romanian Alin Florin Ciorceri (16-3-1) in the lightweight division, as the visitor fought for the first time outside of Spain in an eight-round contest. The Brit had his legs buckled in the seventh and that was enough to give Ciorceri the edge on the cards, as he secured an upset with a 77-76 victory.

Edwards’ stablemate Thomas Essomba (11-7-1) faced the only man to knock Edwards down, Marcel Braithwaite (13-3) , in a final-eliminator for the British super-flyweight title. The bout was briefly intervened by some crowd trouble which ended up ringside, but inside the ring it was Braithwaite who took control.

He managed to edge out a technical battle with a split decision victory (117-111, 116-114,113-116), which would have put him into position to fight the winner of Quaise Khademi vs Ijaz Ahmed, scheduled for December 2nd at York Hall, for the British title. Had he not missed weight…

Brazil’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist Hebert Conceição (2-0) stepped into the squared circle for the third time in three months, this time facing Kent’s Gideon Onyenani (4-1). The 24-year-old middleweight continued his winning start in the professional ranks as he eased to a 60-54 decision victory.

Next up was undoubtedly the fight of the night, as sharp switch-hitter Jack Bateson (17-0) faced skilful southpaw Shabaz Masoud (10-0), with the two undefeated prospects squaring off in a final-eliminator for the British super-bantamweight title, as well as for the WBA Inter-Continental title and the Ali Tazeem Trophy.

There was clear support for both fighters but it was Stoke’s Masoud who landed the cleaner work against a game Bateson and eventually got the breakthrough in the final round, landing three knockdowns before the referee waived it off.

Masoud will now become the mandatory challenger for Liam Davies’ British title, so long as he does not vacate, following his bout with European champion Ionut Baluta.