By Norm Frauenheim –
GLENDALE, AZ – Nobody has to ask Sunny Edwards for a prediction. It’s there, boldly stitched onto shorts he and his corner wear.
21-0, it says in bright green thread
It’s there, the introduction to his user name.
21-0Sunny, it says at the top of his X (Twitter) account that includes a confident, sometimes confrontational thread.
It’s not a matter of record, not yet anyway. But it’s clear that Edwards (20-0, 4 KOs) promises his record will go to 21-0 after his toughest challenge Saturday night in a flyweight title unification bout against Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (18-0, 11 KOs) at Desert Diamond Arena.
This one is for Lord of the Flies, the modern version, in an arena and a city that has a long tradition for classics in boxing’s lightest weight classes.
Its roots are about 17 miles east of Desert Diamond in Michael Carbajal’s neighborhood in downtown Phoenix. He was an American original, a junior-flyweight who fought his way into the Hall of Fame.
A few blocks from Carbajal’s neighborhood, Rodriguez, perhaps America’s best little guy since Carbajal, won his first major title, the World Boxing Council’s super-fly belt by scoring a unanimous decision over Carlos Cuadras at Footprint Center in February 2022.
Ten months later, Juan Francisco Estrada won that super-fly belt, vacated by Rodriguez, in a masterpiece performance, a majority decision over the accomplished Ramon Gonzalez at Desert Diamond on Dec. 3.
A year and a couple of weeks later at the same arena and within the same sprawling real estate, there’s another opening bell, a sound that promises another classic.
Rodriguez, the World Boxing Organization’s 112-pound champion, is favored by about 2-to-1 odds. That’s no surprise, in part because he’s already well-known within Arizona’s Mexican-American fan base. Rodriguez, a San Antonio fighter, is remembered in Phoenix for his victory over Cuadras. He’ll have a significant hometown edge in the DAZN-streamed bout.
There are questions about whether Edwards, the International Boxing Federation’s champion, can win a decision in front of what figures to be a Mexican-American crowd. He’s won 16 of his 20 bouts by decision.
But the London flyweight’s confidence looks to be unshakeable just days before he faces the powerful Rodriguez, who grew up in the Mexican school of boxing. Class starts and ends with knowing how to take a punch to throw one.
“He’s a great fighter, but he’s not been in the ring with me yet,” Edwards said during a Matchroom Face-Off in Arizona’s central desert not long after both arrived in Phoenix.
Edwards’ intricate footwork and often awkward style could prove problematic for Rodriguez, especially in the early rounds.
Confuse Rodriguez early, beat him later. That’s one theory, anyway.
Edwards’ older brother, Charlie Edwards, is fascinated by the wide stylistic differences. There are many, best defined by their popular names.
Sunny and Bam.
Boxing, football and perhaps life is ruled by a familiar line: Styles make fights. This one could be a puzzle, at least in the early moments. But Charlie Edwards, one of his brother’s prime sparring partners, is confident Sunny will be ready for Bam’s versatile aggressiveness and a hostile crowd.
“I know my brother,’’ Charlie, a former WBC flyweight champion said Wednesday at a hotel next to Desert Diamond. “He’ll be motivated by that. That’ll bring out the best in him. I’ve seen it in him as professional and when he was an amateur, fighting a rival in a rival neighborhood.
“He likes to silence the crowd. That’s just who he is.
“Can he win a decision?
“Absolutely.’’
