Charlie Edwards is relishing his return to the venue he has come to call “home” for the occasion of his fight with Sikho Nqothole that could yet define his career.

The 33 year old and his South African opponent contest an IBF super-flyweight eliminator on Friday at London’s York Hall, where he not only boxed as a teenager, but where his stuttering career started to get rebuilt.

After a period of considerable inactivity Edwards signed with Wasserman Boxing and recruited Stephen Smith to be his new trainer in an attempt to revive his prospects, and in his most significant fight since the first against Georges Ory in April 2024, the date with Nqothole has come to be seen as make or break.

Edwards, the former WBC flyweight champion, lost an unusual fight to his fellow Englishman Andrew Cain at 118lbs. He has since returned to super flyweight in recognition of a mistake he had made, but that defeat means that another, against the 31-year-old Nqothole, would likely leave his options limited, and it is perhaps for that reason that he takes comfort from fighting at the famed York Hall.

He beat both Ory and Thomas Essomba there before successive fights – against Cain and then Salvador Juarez – on the road, and he not only wants to win another world title but to fight until he is 40.

Defeat by Nqothole would force him to reassess his ambitions but Edwards insists that he is not fighting for money. He is returning to world level for the first time since 2019 when his career started to unravel, and he is doing so, more than ever, with a point to prove.

“It’s home for me,” he told BoxingScene. “I boxed there for the first time when I was 12 or 13. I’ve been boxing there nearly 20 years and it’s always come back to me. I won the London ABAs there; I won southern areas there; won a lot of fights there and it’s always been a great place for me. I know it like the back of my hand. When I walk in there and go into the changing rooms it’s nostalgic. I love it there and feel like I perform great. It makes me feel good.

“[The Ory fight] was the start of a rebirth. York Hall holds a very special place in my heart and it’s a part of my journey. I’m in the best place in my career for over seven years, and these next seven years will be the most abundant of my career. I think I’ll be fighting until I’m 40. I’m four years clean and sober and live and breathe the sport every day of my life. All I do is box and spend time with my family [five-year-old daughter and wife].

“[Nqothole is] a great fighter. He’s had a good amateur background as well, and is someone that I need to bring the best out of me. When I operate at world level against these types of guys, that’s when my best comes out. It’s a test I’m really looking forward to.

“He’s got a solid base. He can punch a little bit, as his record suggests. He’s quite tall and quite gangly, and he’s got a long, stiff jab and an engine. He’s got a good overall style but nothing that I haven’t seen before and nothing I can’t look great on. One that, stylistically, suits me down to the ground. He makes a lot of mistakes, and he’s got a lot of things I can capitalise on – things we’ve been working on in the gym. I’m gonna put on a display of world-level boxing.”

The defeat by Cain, owing largely to Edwards’ inactivity in the ring that night, had the potential to be considerably more damaging. A both deep-thinking-and-sensitive individual regardless refused to accept that he couldn’t recover; he has been dealing with setbacks as far back as missing out on London 2012.

“I knew I’d be in a good position after [losing to Cain],” he said. “That was the biggest fight on the table and an opportunity to get my name back out there, and I took a lot of confidence [from it]. He couldn’t hardly lace a glove on me. Yes, it weren’t a great performance and I should have pulled the trigger.

“I never took it to heart – it hurt for weeks after. I kept waking up every day thinking it was a bad dream. But it was what I needed; what pushed me into the mindset to reassess. ‘I gave Andrew Cain too much respect because of all the things I’d heard – I defeated myself that night.’ I had to look myself in the mirror and understand what happened and why it happened. But it really hurt. I know I’ve got his number and I know I’ll beat him and I will fight him again one day. I needed it, and I’m grateful for it and take it on the chin like a man.

“I’ve earned my money. I’m doing very well for myself. Boxing’s never been about money. It’s been about ambition, drive, and chasing dreams.

“The gym’s thriving; full of champions. The energy’s unbelievable.To be next to Jack [Catterall, my new gym-mate] and watch him at work and add that to my game, and that energetic chat and vibe around the gym, it’s been a real blessing.

“Everything’s clicked.”