Former amateur star Raimer Walker is not 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 on the rare occasions where Shakur allowed it.
No Chance
Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) and his father, Floyd Sr., talked their way into the title shot against Shakur. “Kid Austin” didn’t earn a regular shot at beating anyone of note during his four-year professional career.
Although the WBC did not rank him in the top 15, the World Boxing Association ranked him #2. He earned that ranking by beating middle-of-the-road opposition instead of contenders.
Schofield’s promoter, 1992 Olympic gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya, did not want him to take this fight, feeling that he was not experienced enough to fight Stevenson. De La Hoya labeled Kid Austin as a “rookie”, and wanted him to develop more before fighting for a world title.
Some believe that Schofield is rushing into this fight for the money, wanting to get the good payday before he is 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.
I 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 have a chance,” Raimer Walker said Fighthype about Floyd Schofield not being defeated to defeat the WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22 in Riyadh.
“He talks good, but there’s a difference between talking and being there with him (Stevenson). I actually sparred Shakur. He’s not going to be able to hit Shakur,” Walker said of “Kid Austin” Schofield. “Honestly, I don’t think anyone can hit Shakur.
“Yeah, it’s hard (to land a jab on Shakur). You’ve got to take what he gives you. Whatever he gives you, that’s what you’re going to land. If he doesn’t give it to you, you’re not going to land it. He is the most defensive fighter I have ever been.
Is it not fair to the fans that Shakur defend against Schofield instead of facing one of these talented contenders:
- Andy Cruz
- Edwin De Los Santos: * Rematch for Shakur to show that his poor performance since November 2023 was really due to a hand injury and not because he was terrified of De Los Santos’ punching power.
- Raymond Muratalla
- Keyshawn Davis
- Abdullah Mason
“I learned from it. It made me work a lot harder on my defense,” Walker said of his sparring with Shakur. “Once I saw that I couldn’t hit him as much as other people, I got my defense like that. I don’t know what it is. It’s different. I work on the shot and he doesn’t get hit a lot. So I also worked a lot.
“Not early in my career, but later as I got older,” Walker said when asked if he could see himself developing into a defensive tackle like Shakur, who doesn’t hit.
Walker did not mention that Stevenson was on his bike the whole time, running around the ring during their sparring sessions. We saw that from Shakur in his fights with De Los Santos, Artem Harutyunyan and Jeremiah Nakathalia. The only fight in the last three years that Shakur looked good in was against Shuichiro Yoshino, and that fight didn’t look world class.
