Charlie Edwards v Thomas Essomba

The wrapping of his hands, the usual dressing room warm-up and one final look at the fight poster will remind Charlie Edwards that this is familiar territory.

Friday night represents a significant step in the 31-year-old’s career rebuild, as he challenges for Thomas Essomba’s European bantamweight title, but the ‘Family Feud’ tagline points towards the underlying storyline.

Essomba is managed by Edwards’ younger brother Sunny, who swiftly ended any suggestion of divided loyalty by declaring he will be ‘Sunny Essomba’ at York Hall. It is a competitive dynamic between the siblings that has been well-honed over nearly three decades.

“I’ve been going up against my brother my whole life,” Edwards tells Standard Sport. “We’ve been competing on PlayStations, in football, achievements, everything we’ve done. We’ve been competing for our mum and dad’s attention at times.

“This isn’t different. It’s something that doesn’t faze me. It makes me dig even deeper - family pride is on the line. I’m the best Charlie Edwards to ever step foot in a boxing ring.”

The brothers have both previously climbed to the top of the boxing ladder at flyweight, Charlie crowned WBC world champion in 2018 and Sunny claiming the IBF belt three years later.

Edwards points to an intensely competitive childhood as the genesis of those triumphs, though admits that the dynamic created by his father Larry also came at a cost to the sibling relationship.

“He pushed us to be the best of the best, always played us off one another,” Edwards says. “In a way it’s worked well, it made us two successful people. But it’s also very sad, because we’ve fallen out a hell of a lot along the way.”

Edwards is a father himself, to three-year-old daughter Sofia, and has no desire to replicate that environment.

“I won’t raise her the way my dad raised us,” he says. “I’ve only got one child, but if I go on to have two I would never play them off against each other. I think that’s totally wrong and disgusting. The point of family is to be a close unit.

“Maybe looking back I’m grateful for a lot of things that my dad done, but I also think, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I lived that, I can’t believe we lived that.’ The madness of it. All I can do is look back and be grateful for the lessons. It is what it is, it can’t be changed. Your parents were only trying their best.”

Edwards was a sparring partner as his brother prepared for a world title fight against Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez nine months ago. Larry remains desperate for his sons to meet in the ring for real.

“It’s weird. It’s not mentally well to want your two sons to hurt each other,” Edwards says.

He dismisses the possibility of that materialising, even if he did call out his brother with tongue firmly in cheek last year.

“I love my brother and I always will,” Edwards insists. “Once I beat his fighter, I feel like we’ll be the closest we’ve ever been.”

There is still more than enough rivalry for a hypothetical prediction, though.

“Mate, I’m not being funny,” Edwards says. “I’m a lot bigger than Sunny, I’m stronger than him, I’m more powerful than him, especially now being two weight divisions above. It would be stupid.”

His flyweight days are now long gone, there are six more pounds for Edwards to play with as he eyes bantamweight titles, and potentially eight more beyond that in the years to come. He insists he can dominate at super-bantamweight and, if his visualisations bear out, even featherweight.

“My goal is to go down as a British great,” Edwards says.

“That is by becoming a four-weight world champion. I’m not afraid to say that. I do believe I can do it. Once I get the world titles on me, I’ll look up and down the weight divisions and make the biggest fights.”

Should he go even some way to achieving those ambitions, it would be a remarkable turnaround. Edwards beat Cristofer Rosales to win the WBC world title in December 2018, but within a year had vacated the belt. He offers a reflective assessment of that period.

“I learned valuable lessons of life,” Edwards admits. “It helped me mature and grow up. What God gives to you, he can take away.

“I’ve become a lot more humble, it’s made me a better man. I got caught up in it all, in the celebrity lifestyle and all that. It wasn’t where I should have been putting my energy. I got side-tracked and I paid the price.”

Edwards relinquished his title in 2019 following a no-contest bout with Julio Cesar Martinez. By that point, the flyweight limit had become too gruelling and dangerous a proposition.

He has spoken of his mental health struggles as he faced criticism, and at times his reliance on alcohol to try and silence the noise.

Inactivity hit as he moved between trainers and promoters, with Edwards fighting just four times in the past five years. After an acrimonious split with trainer and manager Joe Gallagher last year, Edwards became self-managed and secured a promotional deal with Wasserman Boxing.

“I had two, three years of my career completely wasted by being lied to,” he says.

“When I write a book at the end of my career, and everyone can see who actually done stuff to me, it’s going to be a great story.”

Edwards is adamant there are first more tales to be told in the ring, starting tomorrow night. Should Essomba be beaten and world titles follow in the months and years ahead, he insists it will be different this time.

“I’m not on my own anymore,” Edwards says. “I’m not a lost boy. I understand the world, I’ve grown up. I’ve got a beautiful wife and a beautiful family. I’m all in on this game, my heart and my soul.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...1aa54ab7&ei=54