by Shaun Brown
Former British Super-Flyweight champion Charlie Edwards (11-1, 4 KOs) returned to action after a six-month lay-off with a comfortable points win over Craig Derbyshire (5-23-3, 1 KO) at York Hall tonight.
Derbyshire, who fought Edwards on his professional debut in 2015 was brought in as a late replacement and gave his all throughout the eight-round Super Bantamweight contest but was never really in contention for the upset.
Edwards, as you might expect, had every advantage during the bout. Hand speed, foot work, accuracy and timing were all in his favour and he made the most of them throughout.
The one concern moving forward for Edwards would be his lack of power, and one has to think that WBA World champion Kal Yafai - who Edwards is targeting - would have got Derbyshire out there with his heavier hands had he fought the 26-year-old at the same stage of his career.
Trained by Adam Booth, and with developments in Edwards' arsenal obvious, the former world title challenger to John Riel Casimero was pin point for most of the fight particularly excelling with the jab and the left uppercut.
Derbyshire continued to maul forward but he rarely troubled his 24-year-old opponent, although an eye-catching right hand stopped Edwards in his tracks with an attack of his own in the penultimate round.
Referee Chas Coakley awarded an 80-72 verdict to Edwards who is now looking to move on to world honours against a Matchroom stable-mate.
"There's big plans out there for me. I'm out there to get world titles," said Edwards afterwards.
"I just want to wish Kal [Yafai] good luck on the 28th (Yafai defends his WBA Super Flyweight title against Sho Ishida) and hopefully we can have a big British showdown."
