Galal Yafai plans to join former GB team-mate and fellow Olympic gold medallist Lauren Price as a professional world champion.
British Olympic gold medallists winning pro world titles is a rare feat. James DeGale was the first to manage it and Anthony Joshua followed his lead, but there are few other examples.
GB’s Tokyo Olympic team however was outstanding, winning Britain’s biggest medal haul in a hundred years. Yafai and Price starred in that squad. Of the six GB boxers who won medals in Japan, Yafai and Price were the two to take gold.
Both turned professional and still train alongside one another at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
Price, in just seven professional fights, has already won the WBA welterweight world title.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Lauren Price claims the WBA welterweight world title with a dominant win over Jessica McCaskill.
Yafai has been fast-tracked in a comparable way, only having eight pro bouts before going into a WBC Interim title bout with Sunny Edwards, a former world champion and one-time amateur opponent for Yafai.
Victory in their bout on Saturday in Birmingham would put Yafai on course for a shot at the WBC world flyweight championship, held by Kenshiro Teraji.
“I don’t have a target. I take one fight at a time. It’s an Interim title so the full title’s the next fight,” Yafai told Sky Sports.
“I don’t know the ins and outs of it. I just do the training and the fighting and if he’s next, he’s next. But I’ve got a big hurdle on Saturday night first. I’ve got to get over that hurdle before I can think about the second or the third.”
Galal Yafai was a brilliant gold medal winner at the Tokyo Olympics
But he wants to join Price at the top of the professional game. “Definitely. She’s probably the most down-to-earth person even though she’s so good at boxing. She completed it all as an amateur and she’s already a [world] champion,” Yafai said.
“She’s got the WBA world title, she’s had a handful of fights. She’s one of the best in the world already.
“It’s very hard,” he said of professional boxing. “Hopefully I can become a world champion.”
Passage through the pro sport is by no means smooth, even for an Olympic star. For instance GB’s super-heavyweight bronze medallist from the Tokyo Games Frazer Clarke drew with Fabio Wardley in a thrilling British title fight before being caught early in the rematch and knocked out in the first round.
Yafai though backs Clarke to come back from that first defeat.
“Definitely,” he said. “He’s always there for me. I don’t care if he wins, loses, becomes world champion or not, he’s my friend. I’m hoping he can bounce back and I’m sure he will.
“We all want to do well and we’ve travelled the world with each other. But it’s just boxing, especially at heavyweight with Frazer, the worst can happen and it’s dangerous.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Frazer Clarke says his recovery is going well and he is looking forward to getting back to fighting, following his crushing defeat to Fabio Wardley.
Yafai is looking to navigate the pitfalls of professional boxing. Edwards could be a defining fight for him. The former IBF champion is a skilful operator who has only lost once, and that came against the excellent Jesse Rodriguez.
But Yafai warned: “I’ve fought the best in the world, who have got the best footwork. Sunny’s footwork is not going to be something I haven’t seen before.
“I’ve fought Cubans, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, they’ve got much better footwork than Sunny Edwards. People seem to forget that I’m an Olympic champion fighting in the Olympics with men who have got brilliant footwork and are skilful to another level. I don’t think Sunny Edwards really has anything that I haven’t seen before.”
Their shared past not only encompasses that amateur bout but also much more recent sparring sessions. Yafai is now convinced that he can hurt Edwards.
“A million per cent I can,” he declared. “I’d be disappointed if I didn’t but it’s a fight and anything can happen in this boxing game.”
Lauren Price defends the WBA welterweight world title against Bexcy Mateus on December 14 live on Sky Sports