Edwards knew that he was beaten but he never gave up

Former world flyweight champion told cornerman, 'I don't want to be here' after two rounds of his loss to Galal Yafai

- STEVE BUNCE

Sunny Edwards will be haunted by his final fight and his final words during a night of raw drama in the best British flyweight fight in 40 years in Birmingham on Saturday night.

Edwards was stopped on his feet in round six of his fight against his old friend and rival, Galal Yafai, but the fight had finished long before the mercy intervention. The stoppage by Lee Every, the referee, was perfect.

Yafai was having just his ninth fight and never lost a second of any round, forcing Edwards from corner to corner and placing him under relentless pressure. The win was not a shock, but the nature of the winner was totally unexpected.

At the end of round two, Edwards sat down in front of his new cornerman, Chris Williams, and made one of the most harrowing single-sentence statements a boxer can make.

“Can I be real, Chris?” Edwards asked, his face already marked and his eyes roaming wildly all over the place. “I don’t want to be here.” It is one of the bravest things a boxer can do in a fight where he suddenly realises that it is over. Edwards never quit, he was not looking for an escape route, he was just telling the heartbreaking truth.