Former amateur star Raimer Walker isn’t giving Floyd ‘Kid Austin’ Schofield any chance of beating WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd in their fight in Riyadh.
Walker sparred with Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) and found it impossible to land anything on him, which made him want to improve his own defense. He says the only punches he landed were in the rare instances where Shakur allowed him.
No Chance
Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) and his dad, Floyd Sr., talked their way into the title shot against Shakur. ‘Kid Austin’ didn’t earn the shot the normal way by beating anyone of note during his four-year pro career.
Although the WBC does not rank him in the top 15, the World Boxing Association has him ranked #2. He earned that ranking by beating middle-of-the-road opposition rather than contenders.
Schofield’s promoter, 1992 Olympic gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya, didn’t want him to take this fight, feeling he was not experienced enough to fight Stevenson. De La Hoya labeled Kid Austin as a “novice,” and he wanted him to develop more before fighting for a world title.
It’s believed by some that Schofield is rushing into this fight for the money, wanting to get the nice payday before he gets exposed by one of the contenders. It wasn’t a good sign that second-tier fighter Rene Tellez Giron dropped him in his last fight on November 2nd.
Can’t wait to start camp I miss sparring lol
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) December 13, 2024
“He doesn’t have a chance. He won’t stand a chance,” said Raimer Walker to Fighthype about Floyd Schofield not having any shot at defeating WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd in Riyadh.
“He talks a good one, but there’s a difference between talking and being in there with him [Stevenson]. I actually sparred Shakur. He’s not going to be able to hit Shakur,” Walker said about ‘Kid Austin’ Schofield. “Honestly, I don’t think anybody can hit Shakur.
“Yes, it’s hard [to land a jab on Shakur]. You got to take what he give you. Whatever he gives you, that’s what you’re going to land. If he don’t give it to you, you’re not going to land it. He is the most defensive fighter I’ve ever been in with.”
It’s not fair to the fans that Shakur is defending against Schofield rather than facing one of these talented contenders:
- Andy Cruz
- Edwin De Los Santos: *Rematch for Shakur to show that his poor performance from November 2023 was really due to a hand injury and not because he was terrified of the punching power of De Los Santos.
- Raymond Muratalla
- Keyshawn Davis
- Abdullah Mason
“I learned from that. It made me work on my defense a lot more,” said Walker about his sparring with Shakur. “Once I seen I couldn’t hit him as much as I hit other people, I had to get my defense like that. I don’t know what it is. He’s different. He works on hit and not get hit a lot. So, I’ve been working on that a lot too. I could see myself like that.
“Not early in my career, but later as I get older,” said Walker when asked if he could see himself developing into a defensive fighter like Shakur, who doesn’t get hit.
Walker didn’t say whether Stevenson was on his bike the entire time, running around the ring during their sparring sessions. We’ve seen that from Shakur in his fights with De Los Santos, Artem Harutyunyan, and Jeremiah Nakathalia. The only fight in the last three years in which Shakur looked good was against Shuichiro Yoshino, and that fighter didn’t look world-class.
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