WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson is training for his title defense against unheralded Floyd Schofield on February 22nd in Riyadh. Fans are curious whether Shakur, 27, can make it through training camp without suffering a relapse from his injured right hand.
Hand Healed?
Shakur hurt his right hand in training for a title defense against Joe Cordina on the October 12th card. The fight was canceled, and this will be Shakur’s first time back since surgery.
If Stevenson’s surgically repaired right hand breaks down during the Schofield fight, he will be forced to move around the ring as he did against Edwin De Los Santos in their fight on November 16, 2023.
Assuming Stevenson does make it through training camp without his hands falling apart him, he has a tough fight against the 22-year-old Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs). This guy can punch, is aggressive, and sees this fight as a way to put himself in a position to fight Gervonta Davis.
Shakur needs to look good in this fight because he’s performing on Turki Al-Shiekh’s loaded Riyadh card. His fight with Schofield is buried beneath four other fights on the card, which signals that he’s lost status after two lackluster performances against Artem Harutyunyan and Edwin De Los Santos.
Schofield has no experience against world-level opposition during his short career, and some fans believe the only reason he’s getting the title shot against Shakur is because his dad talked his way into the match on social media.
Schofield was given a high ranking by the World Boxing Association for beating fluff opposition, but he doesn’t rate a top 15 ranking in true terms. Floyd struggled to beat journeyman Rene Tellez Giron on November 2nd in his last fight.
Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) needs to impress against Floyd Jr., who is 22, to win back the fans he lost after his last two fights against De Los Santos and Harutyunyan. Many people have given up on Shakur, viewing him as a typical runner after those two fights.
Stevenson had been fighting that way since he turned pro after getting beaten by Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez in the 2016 Olympic finals. Some naive boxing fans had hoped Shakur would evolve. Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened. The saying goes, ‘A tiger can’t change its stripes.’
The Newark native Shakur just doesn’t fit in this modern boxing era. He belongs to the Mayweather era in the 1990s before the Internet age. Nowadays, fans have little patience for boring fighters who run. You must entertain.
Schofield isn’t quite as big a puncher as De Los Santos, but he’s still dangerous and young. He will be going all out, looking to knockout Stevenson to position himself for a fight against Gervonta Davis.
8 weeks out 📸 @ShakurStevenson pic.twitter.com/kVFaJGMV9J
— Shot By Zax📸 (@ShotByZax) January 2, 2025
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