Shakur Stevenson wants Floyd Schofield as his opponent for the title defense of his WBC lightweight belt on February 22nd in Riyadh. Schofield isn’t well-known to casual boxing fans. He is young and inexperienced and coming off a poor performance against Rene Tellez Giron.
Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) and Schofield agreed to the fight on social media after the 22-year-old Floyd said he would step in to replace William Zepeda after he chose not to take the fight.
Golden Boy’s top brass, Eric Gomez and Oscar De La Hoya, must agree with letting Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) be the substitute.
More importantly, His Excellency Turki Alalshikh will need to agree to the fight because it’s his Riyadh Season card. He might have qualms about letting the inexperienced Schofield take this fight against the three-division world champion Shakur. Schofield is not ready.
Better Options Exist
- Andy Cruz: 2020 Olympic gold medalist
- Raymond Muratalla
- Edwin De Los Santos
- Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela
If you’re Turki, a better option for Shakur would be to use Andy Cruz because he’s got the experience, size, technical skills, and a crafty game that mirrors Stevenson’s. The difference is that Cruz has more power, and is willing to exchange.
Schofield didn’t look good in his last fight, laboring to a 12-round unanimous decision win over Rene Tellez Giron on November 2nd in Las Vegas. He was dropped in the 11th round by Giron and took a lot of hard shots throughout the fight.
