Sikho Nqothole put himself in line for an IBF title shot, beating Charlie Edwards in a super flyweight eliminator today at London’s York Hall.
Nqothole (22-3, 13 KO) picked up the unanimous decision victory on scores of 116-113, 116-112, and 117-111, all of which were fair and did give Edwards (21-3, 7 KO) about as much credit as it seemed possible to give him, without any “home cooking” coming into play at all.
Bad Left Hook unofficially scored the fight 116-112 for Nqothole.
Former flyweight titleholder
Edwards, 33, just looked too shy of seriously engaging in the fight, much as we saw against Andrew Cain in their British and Commonwealth bantamweight title fight 14 months ago. Edwards was better today than in that one, and the fight a bit more watchable, but as DAZN’s commentary noted at one point, when Nqothole wasn’t throwing punches, Edwards seemed more relieved to take a break from defending, not so much looking to do his own work.
The veteran Edwards did show some signs of life here and there, indicating that there really is some skill left in his game, but that desire just doesn’t seem entirely there anymore. Nqothole didn’t get off to a blazing start in terms of fully dominating the fight, but it was tough to give Edwards more than a round or two through the first 10 of the fight, and Edwards isn’t the sort of puncher that can really pull off a late miracle, meaning there wasn’t much more drama in the late stages than seeing if the judges had given Edwards more early rounds than others felt he’d won, including Carl Frampton scoring for DAZN.
“This is a good man. He’s doing it for his family and he’s doing it for his country,” Edwards said of Nqothole, before saying he hopes Nqothole goes on to win the title.
“He’s a tricky fighter, a tricky operator,” Edwards said, adding that Nqothole was someone others have avoided and did not want to fight. Edwards said he’ll bounce back, ending what really was a display of class after a fight that did not go his way, for which he gave no excuses and offered no complaints.
Nqothole will now await what could come next. The IBF’s No. 1 and No. 2 rankings slots were vacant before today, so this wasn’t a final eliminator.
Willibaldo Garcia will go to Japan to defend the IBF 115 lb title against Andrew Moloney on neutral ground on June 6.
