Charlie Edwards is back in a fight that could carry him to another world title shot, taking on Sikho Nqothole in an IBF super-flyweight final eliminator in London on Friday. The 33-year-old knows what the stakes feel like. If he wins, he wants to move toward a shot at the winner of Willibaldo Garcia Perez versus Andrew Moloney.
For Edwards, the appeal is not only the ranking opportunity but the chance to prove he can climb back to the top again. He became WBC flyweight world champion in 2018 before vacating that belt in October 2019 to move up in weight, and he said this run has felt like rebuilding from the ground up, one step at a time. He added that fighting for another title would mean even more than the first time he reached the summit.
That context matters because Edwards is coming off a difficult stretch. Last year he suffered the second defeat of his professional career against Andrew Cain, then answered it with a win over Salvador Juarez. Those results have taken him back to a place where Friday can either keep the comeback moving or leave him waiting again for a major opportunity.
Nqothole brings the kind of risks that can spoil a return story. Edwards has called him taller, long-armed and hard-hitting, and his record backs that up: 13 of his 21 wins have come by knockout. He has also lost three times, but the numbers do little to soften the fact that he arrives in London as a dangerous opponent rather than a stepping stone.
Edwards said he has tried to keep this camp centered on himself rather than the man across the ring, working in the UK with former fighter Stephen Smith after previous spells with Grant Smith and Joe Gallagher. He lives in Portugal with his wife and daughter, and said he has had to claw his way back up a very long staircase after being pushed aside, disregarded and disrespected. Now he says he is firing on all cylinders and ready to produce a career-best performance. The winner on Friday moves closer to a world title fight; for Edwards, that is the prize that makes this night matter.
