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Floyd Schofield was happy to react to Shakur Stevenson telling the media last weekend that he hoped he would not back out of their February 22 fight in Riyadh. ‘Kid Austin’ Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) says Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) isn’t the kind of threat he wants to retire from.
Schofield says he has “passport” issues, which have prevented him from traveling to London to take part in the Turki Al-Sheikh Ring presentation. Otherwise, he would be there to be seen and given interviews, just like many other fighters who received invitations.
One-armed Shakur?
The challenger, Schofield, doesn’t see WBC lightweight champion Shakur as a dangerous fighter because he’s not a puncher, and he’s right. Shakur, a native of Newark, New Jersey, is a pure 100% boxer who retreats when pressured and shows no willingness to step into the pocket if his opponents have power. Stephenson is probably the most shy champion in the sport and shows no desire to fight.
In Stevenson’s last fight against Artem Harutyunyanhe held his own for most of the time as the 34-year-old couldn’t hit. But even in that fight, Shakur ran. Because of this, the fans started to leave in large numbers, and by the eighth round, they were heading for the exits. This was in Shakur’s hometown of Newark at the Prudential Center.
Glass hand
Shakur’s surgically repaired right hand is a real question mark going into this fight, as he still wasn’t using it on tape last week while hitting mitts with one of his trainers. I don’t know what Shakur’s chances are in this fight if that’s the case the glass hand disintegrates. Schofield is too strong and throws too many punches for the one-armed Kur to survive.
With just 38 days until the Feb. 22 card, it’s not a good sign that Stevenson isn’t using that hand yet. The problem won’t go away in five weeks. If someone has hand surgery, it takes much longer than five weeks to recover.
“I was thinking for what?” He brings nothing to the table to bring a man back from a fight. But that’s Shakur. He will always have something smart to say. “Hopefully they’ll keep the same energy going on February 22nd, but nobody’s giving up the fight,” said Floyd Schofield. MillCity Bookingreacting to Shakur Stevenson saying he hopes he doesn’t pull out of the fight after his no-show at the Ring Awards in London last Saturday.
“That’s what he has to say.” If you feel the same way about him,” Schofield said, referring to a video interview where Shakur says, “Deep down, he (Kid Austin) knows he can’t beat me.
“He is not a threat to me.” I can’t knock him for saying what he needs to, but I wouldn’t fight if I didn’t feel that way. It’s got to be self-projection because I’m here, training and getting sparred,” Schofield said of another video of Shakur saying he’s “concerned that he (Floyd) might not show up.”
