Video: How Surrey’s Charlie Edwards became a northerner...and a world champion boxer

Charlie Edwards' Sheffield accent may need a little work, right now.
Boxer Charlie Edwards training at the Steel City Gym in Sheffield. Picture Scott MerryleesBoxer Charlie Edwards training at the Steel City Gym in Sheffield. Picture Scott Merrylees
Boxer Charlie Edwards training at the Steel City Gym in Sheffield. Picture Scott Merrylees

But the adopted South Yorkshireman is happy everything else is going well since his move up north from his native Surrey.

WBC flyweight world champion Edwards, based at the Steel City gym, Darnall, relocated 11 months ago.

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He says he has picked up some of the "twang" and feels part of the city's vibe.

Edwards, who defends his title against Angel Moreno on March 23, first arrived in Sheffield aged 15, for GB amateur assessment.

"It's always been a home away from home for me. I've done a lot of my boxing career up here. It's been a very successful place for me, especially in my development as a fighter and a boxer.

"I relocated last April, my brother (Sunny) has been up here five years, it just felt right; everything is good."

Boxer Charlie Edwards training at the Steel City Gym in Sheffield. Picture Scott MerryleesBoxer Charlie Edwards training at the Steel City Gym in Sheffield. Picture Scott Merrylees
Boxer Charlie Edwards training at the Steel City Gym in Sheffield. Picture Scott Merrylees
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He feels "100% part of the Sheffield community." They "have really taken me under their wing. I feel so grateful and blessed with the support I am getting through Sheffield."

He said people were acknowledging him in town and Meadowhall, wishing him luck.

Edwards, 26, described how his one loss, to John Riel Casimero in an IBF title fight in 2016, had actually helped him progress.

In only his ninth fight, against "A known devastating puncher, I got caught up in the hype of just wanting to be someone, I was probably doing it for the wrong reasons, I just wanted it for probably an egotistical sense, and when I got knocked right down to the bottom, it made me realise a lot about life a lot about a lot of people I had around me...a lot about myself."

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After that experience: "I developed my mindset, my dedication and hunger to put me on the right path to becoming a world champion. If I had become it back then I would not have been a very good world champion, I would have been egotistical, I would have been flash thinking I was a man."

The Casimero defeat humbled him greatly he said and he had grown a lot since then.

“Now I am at that stage where I am ready to inspire the younger generation coming up."