Charlie Edwards exclusive: Cain is emotional – I’ll use that against him
Charlie Edwards is ready to steal the show when he fights Andrew Cain in Liverpool this weekend. For all the latest fight odds, visit our sportsbook.
The announcement that Edwards and Cain would meet on the undercard of Nick Ball’s WBA featherweight title defence against TJ Doheny came as something as a surprise but the bantamweight fight immediately captured the imagination of boxing fans.
Boxing cast the former WBC flyweight champion to one side after he lost his title and Edwards has had to show real determination to battle his way back into contention.
“It’s the fight of the card!”
The 32-year-old knows exactly what is at stake this weekend and is thrilled to be a part of such a high profile, highly anticipated fight.
“It’s the fight of the card, let’s be honest,” Edwards told 32Red.
“It’s got the attention and it’s a fight that no one saw coming. It’s the fight that British boxing never knew it needed and I am very excited to give back to the British boxing fans and show them what an old school fighter I am.
“They deserve these sort of fights, you know. This is on home soil. It’s different. It gets the blood flowing, the juices flowing.
“It’s in March, it’s a great time of the year and it will be a packed stadium.
“I’m excited.”
British and Commonwealth champion, Cain is an intense fighter with a brutal highlight reel. Lots of experienced opponents have been struck by his intimidating aura and found themselves on the back foot from their first encounter with him.
European title holder Edwards has already been a world champion and has learned to take everything that happens before the first bell sounds with a pinch of salt. He is an experienced fighter who has faced and overcome his fair share of difficulty both inside and outside of the ring.
“He is a fighter who’s a bully”
Edwards has studied Cain’s only defeat – a decision loss to Romanian dangerman Iount Baluta – and believes that he knows exactly what it takes to defuse the livewire Liverpudlian.
“He’s an emotional fighter and the way to beat an emotional fighter is by being emotionless and using that against him,” he said.
“He says he’s going to knock me out. What happens when I knock him out? What happens when he tries to knock me out and he leaves himself open and I punch into the gap and put him down? Then what? We’ll see the same look in his eyes that I saw when he was fighting Baluta.
“When it came to the fourth, fifth round and he weren’t bullying him, even though he’d dropped him his eyes changed. He looked sorry for himself.
“So he is definitely a fighter who is a bully and once he can’t bully someone, I feel he comes apart and that’s the plan.”
Although Cain isn’t the biggest name Edwards has faced, at this stage of his career he represents a serious test. A win will move him into position to challenge for a second world title but a defeat would deal a major – and possibly terminal – blow to his hopes of becoming a two-time champion.
“It’s going to be a special performance”
Edwards has dragged himself back from the wilderness and believes that this opportunity has arrived at the ideal time.
Last year, he boxed twice and shed any ring rust that had accumulated during the time he spent battling to remain relevant and he is as enthusiastic and confident as he has been for some time.
Edwards isn’t downplaying the significance of Saturday’s fight, instead he is embracing the challenge.
“It’s excitement to walk back out in front of a packed stadium in a chief support bout,” he said.
“When I walk into that ring on fight night, them last two performances are going to raise to a whole new level.
“Just like when I won the [world] title against Cristofer Rosales back in the day, there’s going to be a special performance come fight night.”
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