Floyd Schofield was happy to react to Shakur Stevenson’s statement to the media last weekend that he hoped he would not pull out of their February 22 fight in Riyadh. ‘Kid Austin’ Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) says Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) is not a threat that would make him retire.
Schofield says he has “passport” issues, which have prevented him from traveling to London to attend the Turki Al-Sheikh’s Ring Awards. Otherwise, he would be there to be seen and to give interviews, just like many other fighters who received invitations.
One-armed Shakur?
The challenger, Schofield, does not see WBC lightweight champion Shakur as a dangerous fighter because he is not a puncher and he is right. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Shakur is a pure 100% boxer who retreats when faced with pressure and shows no willingness to step into the pocket if his opponents have power. Stevenson is probably the most timid champion in the sport and shows no will to fight.
In Stevenson’s last fight against Artem Harutyunyanheld firm most of the time as the 34-year-old couldn’t hit. But even in that fight, Shakur ran. Because of this, the fans began to leave in large numbers, heading for the exits until the eighth round. It was in Shakur’s hometown of Newark at the Prudential Center.
Glass hand
Shakur’s surgically repaired right hand is a real question mark in this fight because, in a video last week, he still didn’t use it while striking gloves with one of his trainers. I don’t know Shakur’s chances 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 before the Feb. 22 card, it’s not a good sign that Stevenson still isn’t using that hand. The problem won’t go away in five weeks. If someone has hand surgery, recovery takes much longer than five weeks.
“I thought for what? He brings nothing to the table that would take a person out of the fight. But it’s Shakur. He will always have something smart to say. We hope they keep the same energy on February 22, but no one is backing down from the fight,” Floyd Schofield told MillCity boxingreacting 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 you should say. If I feel the same way about him,” Schofield said, speaking in a video interview in which Shakur says, “Deep down, he [Kid Austin] he knows he can’t beat me.”
“He is not a threat to me. I can’t blame him for saying what he should have, but I wouldn’t have fought if I didn’t feel that way. It’s got to be self-projection because I’m here, I’m training and I’m sparring,” Schofield said of the second Shakur video, saying he was “concerned that [Floyd] it may not appear.”
