December 8th promises to be one of the busiest nights in British boxing history when Ricky Hatton faces Floyd Mayweather Jr in Las Vegas. Hatton faces the biggest fight of his life as he attempts to get the better of the best ‘pound for pound’ boxer in the World. Earlier the same evening British boxing’s rising star Amir Khan defends his Commonwealth lightweight title against Graham Earl in Bolton where Michael Jennings defends his WBU title and Dean Francis also defends his Commonwealth title..
Just up the road, in Wigan British champion Jamie Moore contests the European light-middleweight title and Craig Watson takes on British based Namibian Ali Nuumbembe in another Commonwealth clash. Meanwhile, in Switzerland Birmingham’s British middleweight champion, Wayne Elcock, challenges for the IBF title.
Stoke’s Chris Edwards is eager to make sure he writes his own piece of history that evening and get in on the act as he contests the inaugural British super-flyweight title against Doncaster’s Jamie McDonnell as part of the Wigan card. Not only is Edwards aiming to become the first custodian of the newest Lonsdale belt but also hopes to end an 85 year dearth of major boxing honours for Potteries based boxers. The last ‘Potter’ to reach the upper echelons in boxing was Tommy Harrison who briefly held the British, British Empire and European titles at bantamweight in 1922.
Edwards came close to achieving his dream in April this year when he pushed Dale Robinson all the way in a British and Commonwealth flyweight title bout in Altrincham. In what was considered by many to have been the fight of the year, the epic contest was adjudged a draw and the belts were not awarded. The pair was originally scheduled to have met for the third time, Edwards having stopped Robinson in eight rounds the previous November, but Robinson decided to hang up his gloves.
Edwards whose record now reads W 10 (KO 3) L 12 D 3 will enter the ring as favourite; a unique event for an Impact Boxing trained fighter in a major title encounter. McDonnell, the current English bantamweight titleholder, has recorded 8 wins and 1 draw but has never fought over 12 rounds previously and has only fought outside of Doncaster once. The fight will be televised on Sky Sports as part of the British undercard to the vaunted Hatton/Mayweather confrontation.
“I’m looking forward to the fight now” said Edwards, “it’s been a long time coming with the retirement of Dale and everything else. I’m ready and the experience I gained last time will stand me in good stead I think.”
“It’s great to be involved on such a big night for British boxing and it’s an honour to have the chance to fight for the first-ever super-flyweight title but my focus is on beating Jamie McDonnell and that’s what I aim to do.”
Tickets for the Wigan show which includes nine bouts, three of which are title contests, and large screen coverage of the Hatton/Mayweather contest are available from Impact Boxing on 0845 156 7168 or by visiting www.impactboxing.com