Let’s go back in time to last Monday night.

Whilst the rest of the fighters from Saturday night’s latest Riyadh Season extravaganza were completing a long day of media obligations, Rhys Edwards was in his local supermarket. Suddenly, the 24 year-old Welshman’s phone lit up.

Dennis McCann’s late removal from the card due to adverse findings on a pre-fight Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) test left organisers scrambling to find an opponent for the the highly rated Peter McGrail.

Edwards had been hand picked as the man to take on the talented Liverpudlian and he had a quick decision to make.

“As I’m coming out to Asda, it says I've had four missed calls off my coach. He's going, ‘Where the bloody hell have you been?’ He told me I had the fight. It was probably about quarter to ten in the night,” Edwards, 16-1 (4 KOs), told Not Just Boxing.

“I said yeah, I'd take it straight away. Went to tell my mother, father, family, girlfriend and everything. It's probably announced about half eleven then. I was running around all day Tuesday and left three o'clock Wednesday morning.”

Although he may not be well known by the wider public, Edwards is a talented fighter and well regarded within the sport and entered the fight on the back of consecutive victories over former British super bantamweight champions Brad Foster and Thomas Patrick Ward.

Despite the short notice, Edwards performed well and paced himself perfectly as he and McGrail, 11-1 (6 KOs), produced the pick of the weekend’s undercard fights. After ten quality rounds, the former Olympian was awarded a close unanimous decision but there were plenty of observers who felt Edwards deserved the nod.

Edwards’ whirlwind week may not have had the dream ending but despite suffering the first defeat of his professional career, Edwards was able to find plenty of positives from the entire experience.

“Listen, it was a great, enjoyable, close, hard fight. Gutted I didn't get the win, but I'm happy,” he said.

“My stocks have risen and I'm pretty sure I've done myself proud.

“Listen, I know, I know I was up against it. I know Peter's a quality fighter, but I've just proved so am I. A lot of people didn't give me a chance but I shone.”