By Charles Brun: A stubborn Charles Edwards (15-1, 6 KOs) says he won’t vacate his WBC World flyweight title after having looked horrible in his 3rd round no contest fight against Julio Cesar Martinez (14-1, 11 KOs) last month on August 31. Their fight was ruled a 3rd round disqualification after Martinez hit Edwards while he was down.
Did Edwards use the foul as an opportunity to get out of the fight?
Edwards was on the brink of being stopped after being hurt by Martinez. Instead of holding back after Edwards went down a knee, Martinez hit him with a body shot. Edwards was in too much pain from the punch to get back up to continue fighting. Whether this was an intentional move on Edwards’ part to get out of the fight is unclear. Some boxing fans think Edwards took advantage of Martinez’s foul to get out of the fight, because he was overmatched from start to finish.
Charlie Edwards to meet with management next week to discus rematch with Martinez
Edwards, 26, says he’ll be meeting with his management at MTK headquarters next week to discuss a date for the rematch with the young 24-year-old Mexican knockout artist Martinez. Most boxing fans believe that it’s pointless for Edwards to fight Martinez again, because he was completely over-matched in their fight last month at the O2 Arena in London, England.
“Obviously, I got caught and I got hurt. The obvious mistake was not holding,” said Edwards to secondsout about his fight with Martinez. “I come back and watched the fight. The first round was close. I probably got it. The second round, I definitely got it. The third round, I came into it a lot better, but I got caught, I got hurt, and I should have held. I didn’t, because he was so short, and I felt vulnerable. So I tucked up, and I was getting overwhelmed. So I though, ‘if I don’t go down to one knee, I’m going to get swept off here.’ So I took a knee, and I believe I would have recovered. There was 40 seconds left in the round, and I would have regrouped. I’ve always had a few shaky first rounds.
WBC title stays with Edwards, and he’s happy
Even in the [Cristofer] Rosales fight, I lost the 1st round, and I come into it later on down the line,” said Edwards. “So my belief was to take the knee, get up, recover to get through the round. It’s a 12 round contest, not a 3 round fight. So it was always to drag him into deep water, and allow my experience to come through in the end. I took a knee, that happened [the foul by Martinez], and it was a blessing in disguise. I kept my title, and then they called it a no contest. So I’m thankful and grateful for that. I’m going out to MTK headquarters next week to discuss when the date is to go again. We reset, and go again. We can’t help what happened. It’s one of those things,” said Edwards.
Charlie calls it a “blessing in disguise” that the referee ruled the Martinez fight a no contest, because he gets to keep his title. However, Edwards may not hold onto his World Boxing Council 112-lb belt for too much longer if he does face Martinez in rematch. Edwards said that he thought he fought well enough to win rounds 1 and 2, but the boxing public disagrees with him. Martinez was lighting Edwards up with powerful combinations in each of the first two rounds. Although Edwards landed some shots, they weren’t anywhere close to the huge power shots that Martinez was hitting him with.
Edwards: referee said he should have disqualified Martinez
“I knew it was [a foul],” said Edwards about the shot from Martinez while he was down in round 3. “When I got back up, and looked at the screen and went back to my corner, I said, ‘I’m sure I was on the floor when he hit me.’ And he said, ‘you were. It should be a disqualification.’ I even had the referee phone me a few days after the fight, and he was nearly in tears on the phone, and said, ‘I watched it back, and I cannot believe it. I should have disqualified him.’
So to get that off the ref, it made me feel good. Justice was served on that night. It was a mistake on the ref. I don’t hold hard feelings towards him. It was the heat of the moment. It was his first world title fight as well. I retained my title, albeit by a non contest.
So we’ll sit down and find the next date for the rematch, and we’ll go again. I’m a true champion, and I’m going to stay around and defend my title. It was so controversial. It’s brought me massive media attention, and that’s a blessing in disguise as well. I am bringing names to the lighter weight divisions. I’m making the lighter weight divisions more aware. Like I said, I’m going up to MTK headquarters, and we’re going to sit down and discuss. It’ll be the rematch,” said Edwards.
It’s going to be hard for Edwards to beat Martinez in the rematch, because lacks the power to beat the hard hitting Mexican KO artist. A lot of fans see Edwards taking the rematch with Martinez for the payday, because his chances of winning a world title at 115 are low. It’s game over once Edwards moves up to 115.
Edwards to sit-out for remainder of 2019
“I want to sit out the rest of the year as the champion,” said Edwards. “I want a little break. I’ve had back to back fights, and hard camps. It took a lot out of me. So I want to reset, refresh, come back next year, and then we go again. Them fights [unification matches at 115] are still there, and like I said, I’m here to build a legacy, and this is part of the legacy.
Whatever comes in front of me, it has to be that way. I have full faith and belief that the universe is bringing everything my way at the right time. So it’s just about me taking each day as it comes, and staying in the present moment. There’s no use in looking ahead. It’s never a point in looking ahead. You’ve got to take each obstacle as they come,” said Edwards.
Hopefully, Edwards isn’t going to depend on winning fights by disqualification in the future. If Edwards is going to refuse to get up when he’s fouled, he’ll some fights that way, but it’s not a long term plan that has any chance of success. Sooner or later the referees will catch on to that tactic, and not disqualify Edwards’ opponents.
Edwards shouldn’t get carried away with getting excited about the referee calling him, and letting him no he should have disqualified Martinez. The referee saying that he should have disqualified Martinez doesn’t equate to Edwards actually beating him. If that’s how Edwards wants to win his fights, then he’s not going to go far. His next fight against Martinez will almost surely be the end of the line for him as the WBC 112-lb champion.