ILikeBeer wrote:Boxing Prospect wrote:
Which is why the fingers are being pointed at the team in charge of Edwards making the offer in the first place, not the champion or challenger. Then again the IBF have questions to answer here as he had done nothing to deserve a world ranking.
Are you saying because both men could gain financial reward from this fight, that it makes the champion blameless but not the challenger?
I know boxing is barely a sport any more, and people take big money/low risk fights all the time, and that governing bodies often don't care if there's financial reward in it from them. But are we so used to that, that we no longer put blame on anybody but the challenger and their team? Surely that's all the more reason to excuse somebody taking a fight this big and this risky early in their career? We're in a sport where people refuse to take risks far too often.
For the record, I'm not defending the fight nor do I think Edwards was anywhere near ready. Maybe if we're discussing a risk to his health for not being ready, then I'd see the point.
I'm saying BOTH FIGHTERS are blameless, but the team that in charge of the offer in this case (Eddie and co) should be blamed. Eddie didn't develop the kid right to be prepared for the fight. Look at the guys who have been successfully fast tracked and they typically taken it as a natural step up. Not leapt from British class to world class. It was Edwards' team who threw him to the wolves, blew smoke up his ass and put the money on the table for the bout to be made. If Edwards was self funded (I believe Shumenov was at one point) then he'd have been responsible.
I love seeing fighters fast tracked. I love following careers like those of the Inoue's, Hinata Maruta, Ioka, Lomachneko, Usyk, Betberbiev and Tanaka. Their teams have backed them but done it properly. Edwards wasn't moved properly and that's where I have the problem. Had his team invested in bringing over a good opponent or two to season him then the fight would have made a lot more sense.
Had he fought a fringe level guy before this fight, proven he could beat a top 30 type of fighter it'd have helped prepare him a lot more than beating the likes of Phil Smith, Luke Wilton and Louis Norman. The division is too slim in the UK to act like domestic wins prepared him for the divisional elite.
It is great to see fighters taking risks, but they need to be prepared for them, Edwards wasn't. Very few British fighters in the lowest weights ever will be because they don't seem willing or able to get the testing opponents they need to prepare them or the top level sparring at the weight classes that they need.
Could you imagine a British fighter sparring with the likes of Marlon Tapales to prepare for a world title bout?