Boxer set on by his own corner after heartbreaking ‘I don’t want to be here’ remark

Boxer Sunny Edwards was set on by his own corner after exclaiming “I don’t want to be here”. The 28-year-old was defeated by Olympic champion Galal Yafai on Saturday before announcing his retirement from the sport after the bout had come to an end.

Edwards reigned as the IBF flyweight champion between 2021 and 2023 and won 21 of the 22 fights he had faced ahead of Saturday’s clash.

But he has been forced to contend with a string of injuries recently and couldn’t wait for his final bout to finally be over.

At the end of the second round, Edwards sat in front of his new cornerman Chris Williams and had a vacant stare in his eyes.

Williams asked if the star had it in him to keep his legs moving. And Edwards heartbreakingly responded: “Can I be real, Chris? I don’t want to be here.”

His cornerman then responded: “Don’t be f***ing stupid, lad. Listen, stop feeling sorry for yourself, right now. Stop feeling f***ing sorry for yourself [just] because you’ve had one bad f***ing round.”

To his credit, the boxing star continued with the fight. But he was never really in the contest as he was stopped on his feet in the sixth round.

Boxing promoters Matchroom Boxing of Edwards’ exchange with Williams on their X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday night.

But they were slammed by their followers for showing a lack of sensitivity as @meh_musings wrote: “Imagine sharing this. Disgusting.” Meanwhile, @theilyasnajib penned: “The moment he utters those words, the trainer should have thrown the towel in, this is very sad to see and it’s time to pack it in all together.”

And @WestHamMatters added: “You shouldn’t have shared this but let’s be honest, he hasn’t seemed right in any interview this week.”

After the fight, Edwards told Radio 5 Live: “Win, lose or draw I was always going into the sunset. This was the last thing I wanted to do, fight Galal, but I left a few clues with my posts on social media.

“My body is falling apart, I’ve got bad ankles, wrists, shoulders, back – everything is bad about me. It has been a hard career with the wear and tear on my body.”

Yafai, meanwhile, insisted after his victory: “I might get the respect now.” And the 32-year-old later told DAZN: “It means everything to me. I think people underrate me. I won Olympic gold. It was my night tonight.

“Winning gold in the Olympics was the best achievement I could ever do but beating Sunny tonight was a better feeling than standing on that podium.”