Sunny’S Time To Shine

Sunny Edwards returns to the ring on Friday night, when he tops a BoxNation bill live from York Hall against former European champion Ryan Farrag. Since the announcement of the intriguing headliner, the fight has developed into something of a grudge match, with plenty of provocative posts being fired both ways across social media. In his latest Fighter Diary, Sunny explains the background to the ill feeling and how he sees the fight playing out under the lights on Old Ford Road... FIGHTER DIARY BY SUNNY EDWARDS I SEE THIS fight playing out in one of two ways and really it is down to me to decide which way it goes. Don't get me wrong, I see him as a tough fighter in the sense that he'll be there and he will look to have a go in every round - he won't go missing or hide. But, if I stick to my boxing and moving, which I think I've displayed in certain fights and everyone in the gym knows I can be an absolute nightmare in that if I don't want to get hit, I will not get hit. For sure, I honestly believe hand on heart, I could completely outbox him for ten clear rounds no question about it. However, I've worked on a lot of things and I am a much changed fighter from what I was in the amateurs and even the last year. So I'll be looking to seize opportunities where perhaps before I didn't and, of course, I am headlining a BoxNation show so I am looking to put on a performance. I know he thinks I will be running away for the whole fight, but that is just that boxer vs fighter mentality where, when they lose, they can just say 'he ran away from me for ten rounds'. I just use ring skills. At the end of the day, if someone is a bad boxer, anyone can just walk straight through them and land at will, but a good boxer can keep the best of fighters away from them. At times it will be a game of chess, of course. If he is broadcasting so publicly what he doesn't want me to do, he is saying don't be surprised if I make it boring and work the outside of the ring because I can do that and he knows that because when we sparred I showed him I can. I also showed him I can stand right in front of him in the pocket not moving. I know it is important to entertain and put on a show but, if I do sit in the pocket and he turns out to be better or stronger than I thought he was, why would I give him percentages? If I can make it 95 per cent in my favour by skimming the ring and just popping his head back, why would I make it a 50-50 or even in his favour? More important than anything is the win. Everything is calculated and measured and I will box to instruction. He is a big step up for me, I know that. The three fights he's lost were against two world champions and a European champion, so he is a good fighter. Yes things have got disrespectful but, being completely honest, when the fight was made the day after the board ordered for him to fight Jay Harris for the British title, so it looked like I was going to have my biggest fight snatched away from me. So I messaged him saying I respected him for taking the fight and wished him the best in camp. I tried to be respectful because, at the end of the day, we both know the fight had enough interest that we didn't need any nonsense. It is a good level fight, hence the headline status without question. He then replied 'thanks squirrel face'. After that I thought 'this is gonna be fun then' and it set the tone for what has happened since. He then came out later saying I have no class, yet this whole build up could've gone very differently. I don't particularly like Ryan Farrag but when I sparred him in two sessions last year he was cool and there was no animosity there, neither when I saw him box a month later against Jose Aguilar, who I had previously beaten. This really started a few weeks after that, just on Twitter, because we had seen each other quite a bit prior to this. He started giving it the biggun over a conversation me and Harvey Horn were having, saying if we fought we would just run away from each other. It was light-hearted stuff, but he came out saying we wouldn't know what a war is. I know he was p*ssed up with one of his mates and I just said that if he wanted to fight then let's fight. He then called out everyone else at super fly and even some at bantam, but he didn't get them. He then had one where he nearly got stopped in a fight he almost got pulled out of because he only sold 20 tickets in his home town. I do participate in the whole back and forth on Twitter - more out of boredom than anything - but if it helps make a fight I am happy to do it. Once I fight is made I prefer to concentrate on boxing, but I am not going to go ghost-mode and if someone says something to me they will always get a reply. I will never go quiet and I am very outspoken. I think when I win this for the first time in my career I don't think I will need name names. I've been very vocal before in calling people out and pushing my management and promoter, gunning for a big fight. I've been trying to get on a platform and I think this fight puts me on it. Then I can just let my team do their job and guide my route because this will be me arriving.