America in recent years has had a bit of a drought regarding new heavyweight prospects. The only names of significance have been Jared Anderson and Richard Torrez Jr. Anderson is a bit shakey following his loss to Martin Bakole and his lacklustre comeback against Marios Kollias. Torrez has looked impressive so far but the point remains that these have been America’s 2 best heavyweight prospects. However, there is newcomer by name Joshua Edwards who made his professional debut in April with 2 round demolition of Larry Gonzales. And last night Edwards did a similar job.
Edwards vs Rhodes
This bout was on the undercard of a GoldenBoy show for Bektemir Melikuziev vs Darius Fulgham. Edwards stands at 6’3 and weighed in at 222.5 lbs a smidge heavier than his debut at 221.25lbs. His opponent was another U.S heavyweight Alexander Rhodes who was 2-1 and weighed in at 273.75lbs.
The fight itself was quite quick. Edwards came out hands low applying educated pressure firing out fast accurate jabs to head and body. He then started to mix in right hands which were also finding the mark. Eventually one of the rights stunned Rhodes and Edwards followed up with a left hook and another right hand to back him to the ropes. Edwards did not rush his work throwing accurate uppercuts, left hooks, and dropping Rhodes with a straight right hand. Rhodes did not make the count staying on his knee holding on to the ropes.
Joshua Edwards was awarded a first round KO and looked impressive. Granted it’s low level opposition but this is only Edwards 2nd fight and he’s 25 so not much rush. It was a short fight so like his debut there wasn’t much to analyse but there are some takeaways. Edwards has nice movement as well as fast and accurate shots particularly his straight shots. The only issue at the moment is he keeps his hands quite low as part of his style which leave him open to be hit. It appears to be a stylistic choice and in fairness he has the quickness and head movement to mitigate it but against better opposition he may not get away with it.
Amateur Career
Not only has Edwards been looking good so far in the pros, he also has a fairly extensive and impressive amateur career. His amateur career spanned from 2016-2024 amassing a record of 19-6. Within this career he has managed to get some impressive accolades.
In 2019 he won the Novice Golden Gloves and would make it far in the USA Eastern Elite Qualifiers but would lose in the final by decision. In 2021, he won the USA National Championships but lost out at the AMBC Campeonato Continental Elite against Brazilian amateur elite Abner Teixeira. Most notably Edwards won Gold at the 2023 Pan-American games, avenging his loss to Teixera.
Edwards would make it to the Olympics however would lose in the Preliminaries to Italian prospect Diego Lenzi by split decision. Following the Olympics Edwards signed with Oscar Dela Hoya’s promotion GoldenBoy and went pro.
Future
With the amateur accolades and impressive start to the pros Joshua Edwards may very well have a successful professional career ahead of him. He is 25 so has some time to be gradually stepped up. He should also be kept active which is what GoldenBoy seem to be doing fighting in April then in May. Hopefully he is able to have at least 3 more fights this year to build his profile and get experience.
If all goes well we may be looking at the next big American heavyweight prospect just behind Torrez. We shall see what the future holds for Joshua Edwards and await his next fight.
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
