This Saturday night at the Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai, on a card promoted by Probellum, Sunny “Showtime” Edwards (17-0, 4 KO’s) will make a second successive defence of his IBF flyweight title against Pakistan’s Muhammad “Falcon” Waseem (12-1, 8 KO’s).
Eurosport and Discovery+ will be broadcasting Edwards vs Waseem in the UK, whilst Fubo TV holds the rights in North America and ESPN KO will broadcast the card in Latin America.
Edwards has developed into a solid fighter. He picks his shots well and is very skilful. After winning numerous Interim titles to boost his ranking, Edwards got a shot at former IBF flyweight champion Moruti Mthalane in April 2021, where he displayed his skills for all to see in a masterclass.
The Sheffield-based fighter, originally hailing from London, made easy work of what was meant to be a tough match-up with total domination from start to finish.
Yet, despite producing one of the best performances of 2021 and being one of the best current fighters domestically, he remains largely unknown to all outside boxing hardcores.
Headlining on a Probellum card in Dubai is all good, but one cannot help to think it is a shame Edwards is not fighting on home soil on a major network, showcasing his skills to the mainstream audience.
Along with his talent, Edwards has the personality to cause enough of a stir to become a household name.
Following the deal struck between Eurosport and Probellum, whether this will change any time soon is unknown. Nevertheless, for now, Edwards is floating under the radar.
Waseem has been a professional since 2015 following an excellent amateur career.
Waseem is not without pedigree. His professional debut was a 10-rounder and his fourth and fifth pro fights were 12-round victories against experienced foes. That fifth victory, against 17-0 Filipino, Giemel Magramo, was a tough 12 rounds. In 2019, Waseem defeated consistent contender Ganigan Lopez (36-10) over eight rounds. Then, in his most recent outing, Waseem defeated Colombian Rober Barrera (23-3) in a very gruelling fight to win the vacant WBC silver flyweight title. Make no mistake, Waseem has his share of credible wins on his resume.
Waseem’s lone pro loss in the biggest fight of his career thus far came against the aforementioned Mthalane, who had to work hard to win the vacant IBF title on the line this Saturday, getting himself off the canvas in the 11th round to win a thriller on points.
Saturday nights fight between Edwards and Waseem will be an intriguing clash of styles, with Waseem looking to impose pressure and bombard Edwards with his combinations, and the excellent counter-punching Edwards looking to keep it long and out-box Waseem.
For Waseem, it is not just the prospect of becoming a world champion on the line. With a win, Waseem would be creating real history by becoming the first Pakistani-born world champion in boxing history. Amir Khan is a former unified super lightweight champion with Pakistani roots, but was born in Bolton, England.
Speaking to Adam Catterall in an interview for Probellum Youtube channel, Edwards said: “I cannot believe that Muhammad Waseem is my next dance partner. I’m lowkey quite offended that out of all the options out there, that he was the most lucrative, and the option that I’ve got. I think he’s very basic. I think he’s old now. He’s tough, but anyone can be tough. It’s not hard to be tough.”
A huge mistake would be to underestimate Waseem, who may just be the toughest opponent of Edwards’ career thus far.
As the pride of a nation, Waseem is focused on creating history. Speaking to Arab News, the “Falcon” said: “We have a plan in store for him. I know he’s said a lot of things in the build-up, but I’m working hard and he’s working hard so let’s see what happens. I have this huge opportunity to become the first world champion from my country and I’m determined to take it.”
Edwards has aspirations to unify against WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez, or maybe even a switch to 115lbs to fight Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez, but history is littered with banana skins gone wrong, and Edwards cannot afford to underestimate his opponent in this voluntary title defence.
Sina Latif of SimBoxx