Sunny Edwards lurks in background for Sivenathi Nontshinga's title

IBF junior-flyweight champion Sivenathi Nontshinga might be scheduled to defend his crown against another opponent, but his fight with Sunny Edwards refuses to go away, as the Englishman keeps stoking the fires.

Interest was piqued when Edwards beat Adrian Curiel on a technical decision in the US over the weekend and subsequently called out the South African to a clash.

Mexican Curiel was fighting for the first time since he was stopped by Nontshinga in 10 rounds in February to surrender the IBF crown he had previously wrested from the East London boxer via an upset third-round knockout in Monaco in November.

Since Nontshinga regained the title, Edwards, who also surrendered his own IBF flyweight crown to Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez in a unification clash in December, has been chasing a match against Nontshinga.

His promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, who also guides Nontshinga, nibbled at the bait by saying this bout would be easy to arrange.

After beating Curiel, Edwards who already has the scalp of a South African boxer when he dethroned Moruti Mthalane for the IBF flyweight title, said he was baying for Nontshinga’s blood.

“I said before the fight that I would beat Nontshinga and Curiel in one night and I stand by those remarks,” Edwards said.

It will be interesting to see if the Englishman eventually gets Nontshinga in the ring or goes after his old title which is now vacant after Rodriguez relinquished it to move up to the junior bantamweight to dethrone Juan Francisco Estrada with a seventh-round stoppage in the main bout of the Edwards-Curiel clash.

Before that could happen, Nontshinga will need to emerge unscathed from his scheduled mandatory title defence against Japanese boxer Masamichi Yabuki.

The two boxers were ordered by the IBF to begin negotiations for the fight and conclude them by July 19, failing which the promotional rights would go to purse bids.

Nontshinga’s manager Colin Nathan said the focus was on the Japanese boxer who posed a big threat to the South African’s reign owing to his high knockout percentage.

Yabuki has knocked out all but one of his 16 victims against four losses, while Nontshinga’s loss to Curiel is the lone blemish in his 14-bout fight record.

DispatchLIVE