Anthony Dirrell (33-2-2) and Kyrone Davis (15-2-1) battled to a split draw in Los Angeles this last Saturday in the main event of a FOX tripleheader. The final scores were 115-113, 114-114 and 113-115.

Dirrell entered the fight a big favorite. Many observers thought that the underdog had done enough to win the fight while others thought the draw was a just score.

Stephen Edwards: I thought Kyrone fought really well. We were offered that fight about 4 weeks ago and I jumped at the opportunity. For this to be Kyrone's first time on the big stage against such a formidable opponent in Anthony Dirrell I'm really proud of him. He was thrown in with the big dogs without any warm up fights and he fought a style that's not his most comfortable style. I was very pleased with him. There are levels to boxing and Anthony was a world champion for a reason. But I just knew what Kyrone was capable of. And you can't win a fight that you don't take. 

BoxingScene.com: A lot of pundits thought Davis won the fight.  What did you think of the scores and the outcome?

Stephen Edwards: I know Kyrone won. Being live at the fight, the majority of the staff who can't really say who they thought won, said we won off the record. I could tell that Team Dirrell was disappointed. Kyrone won that fight. It was a tough fight and it was close but he won. I'm very honest with my fighters and I was the first to tell Kyrone he had lost to Patrick Day. I told him that he was too muscular to make 154lbs and be strong and it cost him the fight. In this fight right here, I feel he won and I told him so. 

I was told that the announcers had Dirrell up. I love Joe (Goosen) and Lennox (Lewis). Those are my guys. But what I think that happened was they weren't familiar enough with Kyrone. They only saw him fight Mark Anthony Hernandez as a point of reference and in that fight he was pressing forward. So when he didn't fight that style maybe they didn't give him the credit he deserved. I think the same thing happened with the judges. They weren't familiar with Ky. They thought he would press but he didn't. We fought in a bounce in and out rhythm and it confused Anthony - sort of like (Evander) Holyfield and Shawn Porter fight bigger guys. 

I heard Anthony speak of Kyrone and he called him a straight forward fighter. So that told me they thought Kyrone would walk into the meat cleaver. Anthony is a good puncher especially early. But I noticed he couldn't stop Abraham Han and Han was totally outgunned. All Han did was fight Anthony on the bounce and Kyrone is much more talented than Han. So I told Kyrone we would change things up and he bought into it, he was super disciplined. He really frustrated Anthony. And he didn't run. He landed his shots. But he didn't brawl like Anthony thought he would. 


BoxingScene.com: Where do you want to go from here? Would you like a rematch or go in a different direction?

Stephen Edwards: I have to figure it out. There are good fights at 160 and 168. I will tell you what, his pay goes up now. This was his first good payday of his career and I'm glad he was able to make some money. The pandemic was hard on him. As for a rematch, I know boxing and how this game goes. I doubt seriously if we get a rematch. I won't even ask for one honestly. I thanked Anthony for the opportunity and I'm just glad we got the fight. But Anthony will most likely go on to a bigger name. I understand that there are bigger names than Kyrone and much more money to make. But if Anthony wants a rematch I would be all for it. Now that Ky is comfortable going 12 rounds, I think he would do some serious damage in the next fight. He may not have a lot of KOs but he's very strong and all punches hurt. 

BoxingScene.com: Anything else that you would like to discuss or mention? 

Stephen Edwards: Just glad my boy got to do his thing. And the next time we are on that stage I think he would get more credit from the judges because now people know he's versatile and can fight either way.

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