Waseem to face Edwards in fight for world title today

DUBAI: Pakistan’s premier professional boxer Mohammad Waseem is on the brink of creating history. The Quetta-born fighter and the reigning WBC flyweight silver champion is set to face Sunny Edwards of England in the IBF world flyweight title fight here at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium on Saturday night (today). The 26-year-old Edwards will defend his IBF flyweight crown for the second time.

The Waseem- Edwards fight will also be witnessed by former two-time world champion Amir Khan of Great Britain. The hugely-talented Waseem seemed focused for the mega fight on Friday. As he talked little and seemed absorbed in his thinking here at the Irish Village where he also attended the weigh-in session. Both the fighters also shared an intense face-off after weigh-in.

While Sunny Edwards looked a bit relaxed and full of confidence, Waseem was also extremely determined to win the first-ever world crown for the nation. Having achieved the WBC and WBA No 1 spots in his assertive career, Waseem has to his credit three WBC world silver flyweight titles during his brief but illustrious career.

His physical appearance displayed the extremely hard work-out for the big clash. “Yes, I have prepared well and am ready for the showdown,” Waseem told ‘The News’ here on Friday. “It was a tough preparation period of around three months during which I also held sparring with the fighters from Kazakhstan and England. Although I did not go to any other country for training, I had all the resources at my disposal and it went very well,” he said.

It will be a 12-round fight and will be a real test of temperament of both the fighters who are regarded as real tough ones. Having won all his 17 fights, the English fighter was more outspoken but the Pakistani boxer was upbeat about his chances in today’s fight.

“Yes, Edwards is a good fighter but InshaAllah I am confident I will beat him tomorrow,” said Waseem, also a former Commonwealth Games silver medallist and Asian Games bronze medallist.

Waseem is excited as he was also blessed with a baby son a few days ago. “It’s a real blessing and now I am ‘doubly’ motivated for this fight. Hopefully my hard work will bear fruit,” he said.

His coach Danny Vaughn is also happy with the way Waseem has prepared for the major clash. “Yes, he is hundred percent ready and I am very pleased with his preparations,” Danny told ‘The News’.

“We had provided all the resources which were necessary for training. We had managed sparring partners and those helped Waseem to prepare well. It’s a huge fight as he waited for three years for it,” Danny said.

“I am confident he will win the fight. It will be a life-changing outcome if Waseem is able to beat Edwards which besides prestige will bring huge money to his pocket,” Danny said. Asked whether Waseem will go for a knock-out, the coach replied in negative. “There will be planning for every round. We have thought about what we will need to do,” Danny said.

The series of shows will start at 5:35pm local time. And it is expected that the Waseem-Edwards fight will be after 11pm local time. The weather in Dubai is hot but windy. Edwards and Waseem’s hotly anticipated clash headlines the second night of Probellum Evolution with the WBC super-lightweight title final eliminator between Regis Prograis and Tyrone McKenna acting as the co-main event. .

While Edwards has swept all his 17 fights he has played, Waseem has lost one fight out of 13. The only loss Waseem faced was against Moruti Mthalane of South Africa in the world title fight a few years ago which Waseem lost controversially besides dominating his opponent.