By John Evans

Former British flyweight champion Shinny Bayaar stands at a crossroads in his career. On 10th December the 34 year old found himself the latest victim of current champion and modern day renaissance man Chris Edwards as his attempt to regain his cherished domestic belt ended in a unanimous points defeat. After allowing the dust to settle for a few days Bayaar, 15-6-2 (4 KOs), spoke with BoxingScene.com to discuss the bout and in which direction his colourful career may now head.

“It wasn’t really tough work but it wasn’t my day. I think I had ring rust for the first few rounds because I wasn’t boxing for 18 months.  My last proper fight was May 2010 and there was the fight last December but that was just half a round [Writers note; Bayaar lost his British title to Paul Edwards after suffering a bad cut in a first round clash of heads].

“The first round I picked up a cut – another cut, another head clash – but it wasn’t Chris’s fault, it was an accident I understand that. He was trying to bully me but I was trying to get back into my boxing. I knew he would start hard early and my plan was to try and pick up later on. Later on when I knew I was behind a bit, I tried to stop him and unloaded my guns. He took a lot of punches. He didn’t hurt me at all except for with the head. He did a few heads, back hands and low blows. To be honest he tried everything this time, the dirty and being busy. Everything he could do. Honestly, it just wasn’t my night.”

Watching the fight, Edwards always seemed to be that one step ahead, especially over the first eight rounds. He dictated the pace and was able to ‘fight his fight’ as the saying goes. Bayaar did pick up the pace as the final bell neared but the champion never really seemed in danger of losing his belt. It was Bayaar’s plan to take charge of the fight late on; he was simply unable to lay the foundations of his plan in the early stages and eventually ran out of rounds.

“Yeah, that’s right. I wanted to pick it up later but I think I started too late. The first four rounds I was worried about the fight being stopped because of the cut. The funny thing was, I was cut on the nose but could feel blood coming to my eye so it surprised me. Probably it was his little punches and touches that spread the blood to my eye. In my head I thought ‘Oh shit, maybe the fights going to get stopped’. I had to clear my head after the first four rounds and tried to do my best backing up.”

In October 2009, Mongolian born Bayaar earned a hard fought, split decision victory over Edwards to claim his beloved British belt just days after being granted British citizenship. Since that night, Edwards has undergone a career revival. He is riding a four fight win streak which includes a thrilling fight of the year contender when taking the British belt from the then-unbeaten Paul Edwards. The general consensus is that remarkably, at the age of 35, Edwards has raised his game. Having faced both the before and after versions of Edwards, Bayaar is perfectly placed to talk about the improvement – or lack of - in the Stoke based buzz saw.

“He’s not improved much. He’s just busy and throws as many punches as he can,” says Bayaar. “He was throwing so many punches but more than 50% were hitting the air. As part of my plan I was trying to block and move away from his punches and tire him out but honestly, he is very much a stamina guy. I knew he’d never tire but I believed in my power to knock him out.

“I did hurt him. I shook him in the eighth round. I punched him and thought he wobbled a little bit. I stepped in again but his head cleared. I hurt him with the body shots. I could hear him a few times when I landed going ‘Ooofff’ and I thought ‘I’ve got you now’ and I’d go to pick it up but he’d come gain. His head and elbows were always there.

“One thing is, the referee didn’t give any deductions. After the fourth time he did that there should be a deduction. The referee was saying ‘That’s the third time you’ve done that! That’s the fourth time!’ but I’m not blaming the referee for my loss. I never blame anyone for my loss I just didn’t do my job right. One thing is, if the referee gives deductions, he has to change his tactics. If he can’t fight dirty then he can’t outbox me. He CAN’T outbox me. He just outworked me.”

One has to wonder what the future holds for Bayaar. After a barren few years the British fly and super flyweight rankings are now home to a new breed of young, hungry fighters. The likes of Paul Butler, Jamie Conlon and Bayaar’s former opponent Ashley Sexton are just a few of the names we re likely to see competing for the major domestic belts in 2012. If you ever spend any time talking boxing with the fitness fanatic, you will leave the conversation with absolutely no doubts about his love of combat. It is therefore unsurprising that he has no immediate plans to hang up the gloves. The style that helped make him successful may now count against him though. It’s hard to imagine any promoter being willing to match a prospect against an awkward, aggressive, hard as nails southpaw. Bayaar is going to have to fight every inch of the way toward his next title shot. Not that it will be a worry for the man who fought former IBF minimumweight champion Manny Melchor to a twelve round decision in just his second professional bout.

“Yeah. I’ll just relax for the moment and see what happens next. I’ll speak to promoter Frank Maloney after New Year and see if any fights come up,” Bayaar states. “I’d like a six or ten rounder if I had my way and maybe even move up a weight. If they offer me a bantamweight fight then no problem. I’ve always believed in my power and I’ve knocked out two or three bantamweights. We’ll see what’s next.

“Of course I will carry on! Some good guys like Ricky Hatton and Kostya Tszyu lost and then retired. If I can do one fight, win it and then Maloney says ‘Ok that’s enough I wanna stop promoting you’ or people start saying that enough is enough then that’s it. I’ll never stop training though. I’m bored now! It’s my week off and I’m thinking of going out training. Training is my life and I’ll never be just sitting and eating. I know it’s only one week not doing anything but I miss it so much.”

The fighter born Shinebayar Sukhbaatar in the Töv province of Outer Mongolia might just have one surprise left to spring. Time will tell if he has the time to do it.