Edwards is a fighter ‘blessed with power’
Edwards nails Duran with a right. Pictures: Manjit Narotra/BCB Promotions
I’LL confess to be mightily impressed by Jamie Edwards’ performance on Saturday night.
It wasn’t simply the fourth round stoppage of a normally durable opponent in Jayro Fernando Duran. It was the way the 27-year-old executed his mission on BCB’s “Bragging Rights” bill at Aldersley Stadium, Wolverhampton.
Super-lightweight Edwards, who has retained the training team that guided him through a fine amateur career with Coventry’s Triumph Club, patiently sucked the fight out of Duran.
By the fourth and final round, the Honduran was pinned against the ropes taking heavy shots to head and body. Referee Ryan Churchill’s intervention at one minute 18 seconds was perfectly timed.
“I was more relaxed this time,” Edwards told me. “I’m settling into the pace now. In the gym we’ve been working on patience and creating the finish.”
Leamington trainer Derek Fitzpatrick first tipped me off Edwards was one to watch. In all honesty, after the lean boxer was held to a draw in his second outing, I harboured doubts.
He’s had two more fights since that stalemate and is developing with each outing.
“One hundred per cent, that draw was the best thing that could’ve happened,” Jamie said. “It was an eye-opener and a blessing it happened so early in my career.”
Duran, a veteran of close to 60 fights, is a known commodity to West Midlands fans. Just a week before facing Edwards he took Danny Quartermaine, who holds two European belts, the six round distance.
Before that, he gave former excellent amateur Callum Seedhouse a debut test.
Edwards sends Duran spilling to the canvas in the third round
The 33-year-old simply couldn’t cope with Edwards’ power and precision. He tried to switch-hit but was nailed by left hooks to the body.
By the second, right hands to the midriff were sinking in and Duran’s head was snapped back by a right uppercut.
Edwards found another gear in the third, dropping Duran with a short right to the head. The visitor clambered to his feet to be subjected to a storm of leather.
It was a temporary retrieve. Jamie’s fists were a blur in the fourth and Duran was caught in a storm of leather. With big shots finding their target and nothing coming back, Mr Churchill had seen enough at the same time I’d seen enough.
“I have always been blessed with power,” said Edwards. “Now we’re putting it together with speed and timing and it’s making a massive difference.
“I feel good, I feel strong and, at this stage, we are just taking it day by day. I feel I can go all the way up to European level, even higher, as long as I keep doing the right things.”
The apprentice pro certainly did the right things on Saturday night.