Former flyweight champion Sunny Edwards is calling it a career.

Edwards announced his retirement in the ring immediately after suffering a sixth-round stoppage loss in a one-sided fight to Galal Yafai (9-0, 7 KOs) on November 30.

Edwards, a 28-year-old Brit, turned professional in 2016 and finished his career with 21 wins (4 KOs) and two losses. He won the 112-pound IBF title in 2021 against Moruti Mthalane and defended the belt four times before suffering a ninth-round stoppage loss to Jesse Rodriguez in a title unification fight last year. Edwards suffered a medial orbital fracture in the fight.

Edwards bounced back with a win against Adrian Curiel in June but admitted that he had made up his mind that he'd be retiring regardless of the result against Yafai.

“If I'm perfectly honest, win, lose or draw, and my team knows this, I was retiring,” said Edwards. “I don't have the same energy that I had for the sport and the process. I put so much into the first six, seven years of my career that I just needed a break. I needed a break, really, before this fight, but I always wanted to compete with the best. And while I was No. 1, I wanted to be involved in the biggest fights, and the biggest events. I knew it was going to be hard against Yafai, but the Sunny Edwards of 12 months ago would have gone longer than six rounds. I'll be real.”

Edwards told his corner “I don’t even want to be in here” after the second round against Yafai.

“For the first time ever, I’ve been thinking and concentrating more outside of the sport,” said Edwards. My family. My kids. I’ve been going through some stuff in my personal life that I’m trying to set up for the future. But I knew Galal was going to be a hard fight. I said it the whole way through. Maybe I didn’t think as hard as it turned out to be, but all props to the best man. He more than won. If I was him I’d class myself as a world champion. He beat me very conclusively.

“I sort of achieved what I'd initially set out to, and I’ve always been waiting for this fight against Yafai. It was a fantastic event. One of my proudest moments to bring an event and fight like this to Birmingham, UK. There were seven, eight thousand people. A dream come true. But when you just ain’t got that same fire in your belly, and you come up against someone that’s still got it all to do and still really wants to do it, the evidence is there in the ring.”