Fan favorite flyweight Sunny ‘Showtime’ Edwards returns to the ring next weekend when he faces Olympic gold medallist Galal Yafai in a bout that has all the ingredients needed to be a ‘Fight of the Year’ contender.
Yet ahead of that superb clash in Birmingham, England, Edwards has opened up on one of the biggest issues plaguing professional boxing – drug testing.
Sunny Edwards opens up on the ‘inconsistency’ of drug testing in boxing
In a fascinating interview with BoxingScene.com, via reporter Tris Dixon, Sunny Edwards would weigh in on the ‘inconsistency’ of drug testing in professional boxing; with ‘Showtime’ explaining why he has a love-hate relationship with the current process.
“This is kind of a sensitive topic for me, just because I get tested a hell of a lot – I would guess I’m one of about the 30-ish top skim of athletes that is on one of those 365-whereabouts testing [programs].
“For the last three years, I’ve had to register the bed that I’m going to sleep in and where I’m going to be for an hour of my day every single day,” said Edwards, who understands the importance of the constant location updates, if only they were consistent across the board.
“For me, it’s a very pressing matter. When there are boxers like Tevin Farmer saying, ‘Look, no one’s been tested’, – why am I on something where I have to open an app on my phone… I’m letting someone behind a computer know [my location], 365 days a year, in competition or not, for the last three-plus years?
“It’s the inconsistency for me that’s the real problem,” stated Edwards, explaining how differences between governing bodies, as well as human error, means that we’re unlikely to ever get a truly level playing field.
“It would be nice to think we live in a world that whatever these testing agents are, they’re going to be completely neutral and completely unbiased and completely fair at every stage of it and that’s how it’s going to be. But, at the same time, we’re dealing with people, so do we really live with that 100 per cent guarantee that that’s going on? I don’t know.”
According to Dixon, the 21-1 flyweight appeared ‘conflicted’ about the various nuances of the situation, with the former champion noting how many of the drugs that are being tested for have “a lot of benefits, and that’s why the cheaters take them.
“For me, I think, if anything, we make the sport less safe by giving restrictions on stuff that humans can find on this Earth to give us benefits to help us prepare or repair our brain, or our muscle tissue, or help us with ligament damage, or from brain swelling.
“We’re not really going to catch the good ones, are we? We’re just going to be catching the rubbish ones and the ones that are f***** up and the ones that get spiked and didn’t think they were doing it… They’re the only ones you’re going to be catching.”
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The entire conversation can be found on BoxingScene and is well worth a read-through in full, especially with Edwards set to return to the ring next weekend.
We’ve only seen him in the ring once this year, and it wasn’t exactly the smoothest of rides for ‘Showtime’ after a clash of heads ended his bout with Adrian Curiel in the eighth.
Edwards faces Galal Yafai on November 30, live from the BP Pulse Live arena in Birmingham, England – catch the show via DAZN from 3 PM ET.
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