“I feel really good,” he tells The Ring.

“Feeling the best place I've felt in my whole career. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I'm just ready to do the job.

“I feel like it's my time again and, on May 29, I'll take the steps to become a two-time world champion.”

That night against Cain, Edwards boxed a clever but overly safe fight and drifted to a close but instantly forgettable 12-round defeat.

Six months later, the 33-year-old from Epsom looked much more like his old self as he dropped back down to junior bantamweight and outpointed Mexico’s Salvador Juarez over 10 rounds but he knows he needs to do more if he is to re-establish himself at world level.

On Friday he gets his chance. Edwards (21-2, 7 KO’s) will box South Africa’s Sikho Nqothole (21-3, 13 KO’s) in a final eliminator for the IBF junior bantamweight title.

The confident, lively Edwards is one of the most convincing talkers in British boxing but he is also honest and doesn’t hesitate when asked why this time will be different.

“I feel like I needed the Cain fight. I feel like I needed that speed bump in the road to really face myself,” he said.

“I needed to feel that pain. I woke up about three weeks after that fight thinking it was a bad dream. I sat through that pain, assessed it, and answered some deep and dark questions with the man in the mirror. I feel like I've leveled up a hell of a lot now.”

The manner of those questions was crucial.

Anybody having to ask themselves if they are good enough or still have the hunger to start another climb back to the top is unlikely to make much of an impact in the super competitive junior bantamweight division.

Commitment and belief aren’t issues for Edwards. He simply looked himself in the eye and asked himself why — as a former world champion — he had been allowing himself to be dictated to.

“I was holding myself back through having that pessimist mindset," he said. "I played it overly safe and I gave my opponent too much respect by not realizing what a hell of a fighter I am.”

Eight months have passed since that get-right win over Juarez but Edwards hasn’t been idle and every move has been designed to get him closer to the top.

Rather than sitting at home waiting for the various governing bodies to issue their latest rankings and determine their next mandatory challengers, he stayed busy and offered to help his friend and former sparring partner, Arnold Khegai, prepare for his November fight with WBO featherweight champion, Rafael Espinoza.

“Something in me was telling me, 'This is the time. Put your head into it. Focus. A big shot is going to come. It's going to be out of your control when it comes but you need to make yourself ready,'” he said.

The two started work in Andorra and Edwards decided to cross the Atlantic with the Ukrainian and continue training in the hard gyms of Mexico City.

As well as giving him the chance to experience training and living at altitude, there was an ulterior motive behind the trip.

“At the time, the Fernando Martinez and "Bam" Rodriguez fight was coming up. I was just like, 'If anything happens, they're going to need a replacement' so I just got myself back in camp, aiming towards that fight,” he said.

“I thought, I'm going to go to Mexico with him [Khegai]. Offer my services. Spar some Mexicans. Get out of my comfort zone and get over there. Experience the high altitude so then, any given time in the future, I've already been there. I already know what the feeling is like. It's all experience added to the game.

“I went out there. Locked into training camp with him, got really good rounds of sparring in. Really developed.”

The fight between Martinez and Rodriguez went off without a hitch, but Edwards continued training and kept his eyes peeled for any opportunity, no matter how short the notice.

In December, he put his name forward to step in and fight Kenshiro Teraji on just a few hours notice when illness ruled current IBF junior bantamweight champion Willibaldo Garcia out of his fight with the Japanese great.

Eventually, news came through that the IBF had sanctioned his fight with Nqothole.

Scraping past the South African will secure him a shot at the IBF title but if he is to make the impact he truly believes he can on the junior bantamweight division, Edwards needs to start by laying down a marker.

If Edwards truly has rediscovered his faith and belief in his own ability, he needs to prove it.

“You give me goosebumps when you say that because I know it's that,” he said.

“I'll handle my business on May the 29 against Sikho. Obviously, I've got to stay focused on the job in hand and put in a real good performance on the night to shine bright.

“Then I'll be in the IBF position, go win the IBF, and then me and "Bam" is a massive fight and it really puts me on the radar. That's if he stays down at 115, of course.

“I know there's a lot of talk on him doing what he's doing but I think it's inevitable it's going to happen. The history is there. It's got a massive fight all over it.

“In these lighter weight divisions you need two to tango and it's obviously one fight at a time for me. It’s a fight I'm fully confident in, but I need to handle my business first.”