Charlie Edwards (boxer)

Edwards was born on 8 February 1993, in Sutton. He started boxing at the age of 11 as a means to lose weight and it was apparent early on that there existed a bright path for him within the sport if pursued with true commitment . He would then go on to represent the long-standing Repton Boxing Club in London, whilst also getting his brother Sunny into boxing. He grew up being influenced by legendary boxers Sugar Ray Leonard and Manny Pacquiao.^[2]

He won the 2011 Amateur Boxing Association British light-flyweight title, when boxing out of the Lynn ABC. Three years later in 2014 he won the flyweight title boxing out of Repton ABC.^[3]

Edwards turned professional in 2015, debuting at The O2 Arena with a fourth-round technical knockout win. Edwards compiled a record of 13–1, and was ranked #15 by the WBC^[4] before shocking and defeating Cristofer Rosales to win the WBC flyweight title.^[5]

In September 2016 on the undercard of the Gennady Golovkin vs. Kell Brook title clash at the O2 Arena in London, England. Edwards challenged IBF flyweight champion John Riel Casimero but lost via 10th round stoppage, suffering his first professional defeat.^[6]

On 31 August 2019, Edwards defended his title against Julio Cesar Martínez at the O2 Arena on the undercard of Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Luke Campbell.^[7] Martínez came out determined and managed to stop Edwards with 1:43 left in the third round. Edwards was not able to beat the count, and initially Martínez was awarded a knockout victory. After the video replay was shown, it was evident that Martínez had hit Edwards with a body shot with the latter already on the floor with one knee. The fight would therefore be ruled a no contest, with WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman ordering an immediate rematch.^[8]

In October 2019, he announced that he had vacated the WBC flyweight title due to health concerns over making weight at flyweight.^[9]

On 27 September 2024, Edwards won the European bantamweight title with a unanimous decision win over defending champion Thomas Essomba at York Hall in London.^[10][11] He vacated the title in January 2025 without making any defenses.^[12]

Edwards challenged British, Commonwealth and WBC Silver bantamweight champion Andrew Cain at Liverpool Arena on 15 March 2025.^[13] He lost by split decision with one of the ringside judges scoring the fight 115–113 in his favour while his two colleagues had it 116–112 and 115–114 respectively for Cain.^[14][15]