Deposed Sheffield boxing champion shrugs off online trolls

Firstly, he sustained several facial injuries as he lost his treasured IBF flyweight belt to Jesse Rodriguez, following a brave and entertaining battle on US soil.

Then he was battered on social media by his critics, many of whom revelled in the Steel City gym star's defeat in Arizona, albeit to a potential pound-for-pound great.

Edwards, who is prolific on social media and seemingly always happy to take on the trolls, believes the abuse he is receiving online will only help his image, however.

And it will stir him on for years to come, he says.

The tough Brit was beaten for the first time on Saturday, in round nine of his title unification pursuit against Rodriguez, 23, the WBO holder, from San Antonio.

Edwards' face betrayed the scale of the violence wreaked on him, issues which included a medial orbital fracture.

His vision had been impaired following a stiff jab back in round two.

By the end, his cheek was banged up, his nose was bleeding and a nasty gash was visible on his right eyebrow.

Later, the chirpy 23-year-old tried to make light of the physical damage on X, formerly Twitter, posting: "Great fight for the neutral, not so great for my face."

That humility didn't stop a tirade of online attacks, yet Edwards took time to respond to some of them, even while he sat in the back of a van on his way to Sheffield from Heathrow airport.

"You think I care if 100s and 1000s of people are slagging me?

"They don’t realise they do more advertising and promotion for me than anything else" he said.

"Would you rather I deleted socials, started crying, and let not winning a fight eat me alive?

"Some people been waiting for 6-7 years to see me lose; I’ve rubbed an awful lot of people up the wrong way.

"I enjoy it - I'll be back, I haven’t got nowhere else to go" wrote Edwards, who was W20 L0 and had defended his belt four times.

"I respect boxing, I understand what I’m getting into" added the prolific poster.

"If I cared about what other people thought about me, I’d have quit a long time ago."

The bruising experience in Arizona didn't put the Grant Smith-trained boxer off the sport.

"For the next 10-15 years I plan to be a part of all the fights that people care to see. Win lose or draw, real fights only."

One fan responded: "In a division where it’s hard to get noticed...people know who you are, a great self-promoter! You’ve been world champion and I’m sure you’ll be x2 world champion. Looking forward to the rebuild."

Another said: "I hated you before the weekend but you've grown on me and you've gained a new fan in me.

"Probably doesn't feel like it now but in the long run losing in that fashion has probably done you a favour."

Meanwhile, trainer Smith caught the eye in Junaid Bostan's corner in a fight earlier on in the Edwards v Rodriguez card.

The unbeaten Rotherham southpaw had veered from the game plan in his fight with Gordie Russ at the Desert Diamond Arena.

Smith roughly hurled the 21-year-old on to his stool in the corner and angrily barked orders inches from his face.

It did the trick and Bostan won on points.

"Ain’t the first he’s shook me up, doubt it’ll be the last" said Bostan later.