A former world kickboxing champion, Edwards is now aiming for a shot at a world boxing title in the next two years after defeating Brisbane's Hunter Sam in a 10-round slug-out at Canberra's Hellenic club on Friday night.

Edwards says he is inspired to succeed in the sport to give his parents, Ray and June, a better life. His father became seriously ill last year and the couple almost lost their home because of mounting medical bills.

As he did for his son's previous fight in November, Ray Edwards battled his way out of hospital to be ringside on Friday. But the 69-year-old, who suffers heart disease, kidney failure and requires a constant oxygen supply on his walker, was admitted to hospital again on Saturday.

"It's a big thing for him, he sets a goal to be there for the fights," Ben Edwards said. "It's such a huge effort for him, it takes him 20 to 30 minutes to walk in from the carpark. It's a huge effort and it was a big night, I'm so happy he was there.

"It was awesome and it says a lot about the how important goal setting is. He went back into hospital today, he started falling apart again."

Edwards is setting his own goals high. A former Canberra Raiders junior, he turned his back on rugby league as a teenager to focus on fighting.

Having taken out a world kickboxing title, the 31-year-old returned to boxing last year and is aiming for a title once held by legends such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.

"I definitely want to keep working towards that WBC world title, that's the goal and that's where we want to be in the next two years or so," Edwards said.

"There's four legitimate world titles but the WBC has always been the most prestigious one. If you could only have one belt, that's the one you want.

"The next logical step would be a Commonwealth title."

The WBC heavyweight title is held by American Deontay Wilder but Edwards has his eyes set on a former world title contender much closer to home –- Brisbane's Alex Leapai.

Leapai had a rags-to-riches shot at the world title last year, knocked out in the fifth round by Ukrainian powerhouse Wladimir Klitschko.

"From this fight I'm going to be top 50 in the world straight away," Edwards said.

"Alex Leapai is a possibility. He'd still be top 30 in the world and he'd definitely be a step in the right direction for my world title shot.

"I've sparred with him before, that was a few years ago when I was really inexperienced. It does give me confidence to know I've been in the ring with a guy who's fought for the world title and held my own.

"I'd be pretty confident in taking that fight. The thing with Leapai, he's a super tough guy who got in there and he gave it a real crack. He fought for nothing for a long time, so I was happy to see him get that big pay day ... but he's had his chance, now it's my time."