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Galal Yafai is ready to go the distance if needed when he takes on Sunny Edwards for the WBC interim flyweight title in Birmingham on Saturday night.
Yafai, who won Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020, is 8-0 as a professional – with six wins having come before the final bell.
The Birmingham southpaw stopped Mexican Sergio Orozco Oliva in the third round of his last contest on the undercard of Rhiannon Dixon versus Terri Harper in Sheffield during September.
Yafai, though, insists he is not bothered about another quick finish when he faces off against former IBF champion Edwards, the pair having previously fought as amateurs.
“As long as I get the win, I don’t care how I get it – whether it is a 12-round decision or a knockout, a stoppage – a win is a win,” Yafai told the PA news agency.
“I am in brilliant shape. I know every boxer says that, but in training I really have been in great shape.
“I will be ready to go 12 rounds all out, but hopefully it works out on the night because you can train brilliantly, be fit in the gym, but then you can get to fight night and it could go to pot.”
Yafai added: “I always prepare for 12 rounds because that is the most that I am going to do – and if it is less, then brilliant because that is less punishment and I can go back home and have some good fast food.
“But if it is not and it is 36 minutes, then it has to be 36 minutes.
“That is what I have prepared for, that is what I have trained for, so anything less is a bonus.”
The pair met when making their way in the amateur ranks in 2015, with Edwards taking a split decision.
It was Yafai, though, who was selected for Team GB at the Rio Olympics the following year, going on to reach the round of 16, before claiming the 2018 Commonwealth Games title in Australia ahead of a somewhat unexpected gold at Tokyo 2020.
Edwards, meanwhile, reigned as IBF champion from May 2021 through until December 2023 when he lost his world title and unbeaten professional record to Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, the WBO belt holder.
Londoner Edwards bounced back from that defeat with a 21st win from 22 contests by beating Adrian Curiel in Phoenix during June.
Yafai, 31, has plenty of respect for what his rival has gone on to achieve, but does not think their last contest will have any bearing on the way Saturday’s showdown at BP Pulse Live is likely to pan out.
“We fought too long ago, it was 2015,” Yafai said.
“I was a kid who had just started boxing, so I think he is not naive enough to think that either the fight or that I am going to be the same – and I am not naive enough to think he is going to be the same.
“I think it will be a different fight, hopefully it is more towards my side.”
Yafai added: “I am always confident but then so is my opponent. He is a former world champion. He hasn’t put too much of a foot wrong as yet.
“He has lost one fight – and hopefully he loses another one on Saturday night.”
