QUEANBEYAN kickboxing legend Ben Edwards is preparing for a shot at the world's best when he travels to Denver next month in the Glory 16 World Kickboxing Series.
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And the world number six knows just how tough it will be coming up against 113-fight Dutch veteran Errol Zimmerman in a three-round contest despite the fact Zimmerman is ranked two positions lower.
But Edwards knows that his 65 less fights will make him the underdog heading into the contest.
"He's two years younger than me and he's had [almost] 70 more fights," said Edwards.
"In Holland they start kickboxing in primary school...they're either doing soccer, or they're doing kickboxing, especially all the heavyweights over there and Zimmerman's very experienced.
"He's the most similar guy to me in size and style...he's been on a bit of a losing streak but he's lost to the 'who's who' of the sport, so even though I'm ranked in front of him, everyone in the know knows that I'm the underdog."
Zimmerman originally comes from the tiny West Indies island nation of Curacao, but such was his ability and strength he was forced to relocate to the Netherlands in order to compete in higher level events.
This was at age 15.
Edwards has great respect for his up-coming opponent, and said despite his losing streak of four of his past five Glory matches, he would not want to lose to the "new kid on the block" in Edwards.
"I think his losing streak will work to his favour," said Edwards.
"I've only really made my name in my last fight on the world kickboxing scene, and he is not going to want to lose to me that's for sure."
Edwards' last fight was in November last year at New York City's famous Madison Square Gardens, where he knocked out Moroccan world number 16 Jamal Saddik in what proved a perfect trip for the Queanbeyanite.
After lacking momentum for most of that fight, Edwards came back remarkably to win it with just seven seconds remaining after staying in the physical contest and eventually draining Saddik of energy, which allowed him to score his final strikes.
"I was thinking 'man I don't have long and I'm getting pretty tired, let's keep throwing punches and hopefully it's over'," said Edwards with a laugh.
"In the final round I was fresh, I was fit, and I just kept the pressure on and I didn't even hit him with the shot that hurt him, he just ran out of gas, and that's when I started landing shots."
That also happened to be his Glory debut, giving him the extra adrenaline to fight well in Denver.
Victory over Zimmerman will put Edwards through to the final of the Glory 16 that same night, and should he win that fight, he will propel to world number four.