Frank Warren aims to pin down a world title fight for Sunny Edwards as part of his series of fights for early 2021.
Warren is back at work after being in hospital with COVID-19 over the New Year period and his Queensberry Promotions are looking at putting on fortnightly shows to be screened in the UK on BT Sport.
The long-awaited WBO super-featherweight title fight between Jamel Herring and Carl Frampton will top opening show on February 27 in London, but that is not the only world title fight that Warren is aiming to put on.
Edwards, the younger brother of former WBC flyweight champion Charlie Edwards, is ranked No 2 contender to WBO flyweight champion Junto Nakatani, although he is also ranked by the WBC and IBF at super-flyweight.
The 25-year-old, who is unbeaten in 15 fights, last boxed in August when he beat Thomas Essomba on points for the IBF’s international super-flyweight belt, having previously held the same title at flyweight.
“Sunny has been waiting for his chance and we are looking to pin down that world title fight for him,” Warren said.
“We start back on February 27 with Herring-Frampton and then will be looking to do two shows in March and two in April.”
One of the March shows could feature a string British title fights on the same card.
These could include a vacant British light-heavyweight title fight between Willy Hutchinson and Lennox Clarke, Chris Jenkins defending his British bantamweight title against Ekow Essuman and Akeem Ennis Brown defending his British super-lightweight title against Sam Maxwell. Brad Foster, the British super-bantamweight champion who headlined the very first UK show after the first lockdown last July is also likely to feature.
As well as negotiations for a Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua fight for the undisputed world heavyweight title, Warren is also involved in talks for Joe Joyce to face Oleksandr Usyk for the interim WBO heavyweight title, while Warren is also hopeful that Liam Williams will get his shot at Demetrius Andrade for the WBO middleweight belt. “It looks like that one will be heading for purse bids,” Warren said.
Warren says that he does not expect fans to be allowed to attend shows for the near future, with the UK suffering record numbers of COVIS cases and deaths in recent weeks.
“Everyone wants to see the fans back,” Warren said. “But with things the way, the Board is doing well to make sure boxing is going ahead.”
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for Boxing Scene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 – covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.
