Promoter Eddie Hearn says they have made a “massive offer” to Golden Boy for their fighter Floyd ‘Kid Austin’ Schofield to be the next opponent for WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd.
Hearn feels the 22-year-old Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) should accept the offer because he has “Nothing to lose,” which is easy for him to say.
Schofield looked awful in his last fight, fighting hard against the second-tier fighter, René Tellez Giron (20-4, 13 KO), retiring on 11 and absorbing a career penalty before the month on November 2.
Hearn wants to Schofield
After that performance, Schofield is not remotely ready to fight anyone in the top 10, and certainly not a defensive fighter like Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs), who will play. hit and run all night against him.
Hearn says he is also interested in Raymond Muratalla and WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk for Shakur. However, he says that the Berinchyk fight would be difficult to do because there are problems.
He does not say what they are, but Top Rank is probably saving Berinchyk for his fighter, Keyshawn Davisto fight Top Rank is trying to make a star out of Keyshawn, and Berinchyk is their best chance to make the 2020 Olympic silver medalist a cheap world champion without risking his skin against one of the talented belts.
“Tevin Farmer is a good fighter. We didn’t screw him up. He’s very skilled, and he’s also quite awkward,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing newsDiscussing why William Zepeda didn’t shine in his fight against Tevin Farmer on November 16 in Riyadh.
“I think Zepeda was a little bit excessive, and I don’t think Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy want that fight against Shakur Stevenson. Oscar is not an idiot. He knows. This is the sadness of boxing.
“Rather than take greatness in Shakur Stevenson, I believe that Oscar would rather not lose at Matchroom. “So, we will not give him (Shakur) that fight. We continue to build his (Zepeda) record. Take a chance. You never know. Sometimes when a fighter goes to that level, sometimes it’s achieved, and it’s for the world championship.”
Zepeda Unavailable
If Zepeda is injured, what can you do? He injured his left hand in his 10-round decision win over Tevin Farmer on Nov. 16 in Riyadh and will need six to eight weeks of recovery time. That’s too much time for Zepeda to be available to challenge Shakur for his WBC lightweight title on February 22. That could be a good thing for Shakur and Hearn because he hadn’t beaten Zepeda.
This talent overflows 100+ punches per round and landed a godawful amount of body shots on Farmer. Former IBF super featherweight champion Farmer has never taken so many punches to the body before, and he looked like a drained D-cell battery by the eighth round, just holding non-stop, trying to keep Zepeda from getting knocked out.
“The fight has been ordered. If he (Zepeda) has an injury in his hand. I do not believe that they will take that fight. Shakur knows that we had calls with His Excellency. We want to make the unification (Denys) Berinchyk. There are other fights we’re looking at. Muratalla, we’ve talked to Top Rank, and we’ve made Golden Boy an offer for Kid Schofield.
Hearn wants Schofield because it is a sure win for Shakur Stevenson, and there would be a lot of talk in the build-up between them. It would be a total mismatch for Shakur, just a showcase level fight. It would be better for Shakur to fight Cuban Andy Cruz, the guy who beat Keyshawn Davis four times, even in the 2020 Olympic finals. Cruz is like a better version of Shakur, with power, aggressiveness and defensive skills on par with his.
“It’s a massive offer, and I’m sick and tired of people talking on Twitter. Make the fight. Kid Schofield is a great young talent. It would be a great build-up. You have nothing to lose. You have a load of money and a great opportunity,” Hearn said.
The offer would have to be huge for Golden Boy to allow the inexperienced Schofield to fight Shakur because his chances of winning would be non-existent. Schofield has limited skills, and is not strong enough to count on his power to save him like Raymond Muratalla. The likely end result of a Shakur-Schofield fight is a one-sided 12-round victory for Shakur, with Schofield being dominated from A to B. That wouldn’t be pretty and would ruin Schofield’s career forever. There would be no going back.
Shakur’s fight announcement
“So, hopefully one of those fights will happen, and I think there will be an announcement on February 22nd from His Excellency, maybe even this week,” Hearn said.
If His Excellency is going to potentially announce Shakur’s next fight as early as this week, it’s a strong signal that Schofield will be the one doing it. Hearn won’t let Shakur fight the big-punching Muratalla because he hits too hard.
As we saw in Muratalla’s fight against Tevin Farmer, even when he is outboxed, he is dangerous even in the later rounds. All it takes is one solid right hand from Muratalla in the next few rounds to send Shakur to the canvas, and he might not get up.
“We mentioned Cordina for the fight (against Shakur). The main plan would be to fight (WBO lightweight champion) Berinchyk for a unification. Obviously, Top Rank, there are still a few problems. I think it could come from those other two if not Berinchyk,” Hearn said.
The chances of Hearn getting Berinchyk for a fight with Shakur are slim, unless His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wants that match. He can make it happen, but without his help, Berinchyk will be out of reach, being saved for the match Keyshawn from Top Rank.
