Charlie Edwards Shines at York Hall, Defeats Thomas Essomba for European Bantamweight Title

On September 27, Charlie Edwards (20-1, 7 KOs) defeated Thomas Essomba (13-9-1, 4 KOs) in a unanimous decision victory, winning the European bantamweight title at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London. It was a raucous atmosphere for the main event, promoted by Wasserman boxing live on Channel 5 in the UK. Edwards did what he needed to do impressively.

Charlie Edwards Defeats Thomas Essomba at York Hall

Charlie Edwards vs. Thomas Essomba Recap

A quiet opening round that came to life with a nice short right hand from Edwards, but Essomba had success with his left hand and applied pressure near the bell-throwing hooks, which Edwards dealt with well.

The second round was a busier round for Edwards as he controlled the distance well, which nullified his opponent who wasn’t able to counterpunch effectively. A straight right hand from the Croydon man was the highlight. The next couple of rounds saw Edwards continue to control the distance effectively, landing combinations and negating the counter-punching strength of the Cameroon-born fighter. After another comfortable round for the 31-year-old, Essomba had a much stronger sixth round and landed some eye-catching shots towards the end of the round.

Read More: Crafty Footwork and Precision Strikes: Charlie Edwards Dominates in Impressive 2024 Opener

Essomba again had a strong round in the seventh, landing the cleaner, heavier shots, before Edwards controlled the distance and outworked his opponent in the eighth. The next round was quiet, until the end when Essomba won the exchange with some heavy-looking shots.

The championship rounds followed a similar pattern with Essomba landing the heavier shots, but the speed and higher work rate came from Edwards who at the bell believed that he had done enough. We went to the judge’s scorecards which read 117-111, 116-112 and 118-111 in favour of the Croydon fighter, crowning Edwards the new European bantamweight champion.

Post Fight Quotes

In the post-fight interview, Edwards spoke on his opponent: “Thomas is a tricky operator.”

He continued: “I got options everywhere.”

He also spoke on the Japanese world champions and said: “Mr Honda, I would like to take a world title off one of your champions.”

Interestingly, Edwards also was sporting a t-shirt with Paul Butler on it, and it quickly became clear that was the fight the Croydon man wants next.

Undercard

Following the conclusion of the main event, popular cruiserweight Hasnan Ali (0-1) made his pro debut against Tommy Sams (4-0, 1 KOs) and was stunned in the first round, with the referee waving the fight off with Ali unable to continue.

Tom Welland (6-0, 3 KOs) defeated Darwing Martinez (8-24-2, 6 KOs) by second-round stoppage in their four-round featherweight fight. After a quiet opening round, Welland came out faster in the second round, picking his punches impressively. A beautifully timed left hook-right hand attack sent Martinez crashing to the canvas. Despite beating the count, the Nicaraguan fighter was soon on the receiving end of a vicious barrage of punches, which sent him down again, and another barrage sent Martinez down for the third time and forced the referee to wave the fight off. That was impressive from the young 20-year-old from Essex.

Germaine Brown (14-3, 5 KOs) defeated Grant Dennis (18-8, 3 KOs) in the third round of their super middleweight contest, with Brown knocking his opponent down in round two before stopping him in round three with another knockdown from a right hand, with the referee waving the fight off.

Read More: Five Underrated Bantamweights to Watch Out for in 2024

Danny Boardman (2-0, 0 KOs) impressed in just his second professional fight, winning the four-round featherweight clash 40-36.

Joel Bartell (7-1, 4 KOs) defeated Nikolas Dzurnak (7-8-2, 6 KOs) in the fifth round of their middleweight bout with two big left hooks to the body, leading the referee to wave the fight off, awarding Bartell the stoppage win.

Brandan Olbrechts (7-0, 2 KOs) impressed with a dominating 60-54 victory over the durable Brayan Mairena (15-47-1, 9 KOs) in their six-round super featherweight contest.

Hannah Robinson ( 2-0, 0 KOs) continued the unbeaten start to her professional career with a comfortable 59-55 win over Laura Reoyo (2-2, 0 KOs) in their six-round super lightweight bout.