Floyd Schofield had fun reacting to Shakur Stevenson telling the media last weekend that he hopes he doesn’t pull out of their February 22 fight in Riyadh. “Kid Austin” Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) says Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) is not the type of threat that will make him want to quit.
Schofield says he has “passport” issues, which have prevented him from traveling to London to attend the Turki Al-Sheikh Ring Awards. Otherwise, he would have been there to be seen and give interviews, like the many other fighters who received their invitations.
One-handed 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 faced with pressure and shows no willingness to stay in the pocket if his opponents have power. Stevenson is probably the most timid champion in the sport and shows no desire to fight.
In Stevenson’s last fight against Artem Harutyunyanhe held his ground much of the time because the 34-year-old couldn’t punch. But even in that fight, Shakur was running. That’s why the fans started to leave in large numbers, heading towards the exit from the eighth round. This was in Shakur’s hometown of Newark at the Prudential Center.
The glass hand
Shakur’s surgically repaired right hand is the real question mark in this fight because, in a video last week, he didn’t even use it while batting gloves with one of his trainers. I don’t know Shakur’s chances in this fight if this the glass hand falls. Schofield is too strong and throws too many punches to survive an unarmed Kur.
With just 38 days until the February 22 card, it’s not a good sign that Stevenson isn’t using that hand yet. A problem won’t go away in five weeks. If someone has a hand surgery, it takes much longer than five weeks to recover.
“I think for what? He doesn’t bring anything to the table to make a person come back from a fight. But that’s Shakur. He’ll always have something smart to say. I hope he keeps the same energy on February 22, but nobody retires from the fight,” said Floyd Schofield to MillCity BoxingHe reacts to Shakur Stevenson saying that he hopes he doesn’t come back out of the fight after his failure at the Ring Awards in London last Saturday.
“That’s what you have to say. If you feel the same way about him,” Schofield said, speaking in a video interview where Shakur says, “Deep down, he (Kid Austin) knows he can’t beat me.”
“It’s not a threat to me. I can’t beat him for saying what he has to, but I wouldn’t have taken the fight if I didn’t feel that way. I have to be self-promoting because I’m here, I train and get my sparring,” said Schofield about another video of Shakur saying he’s “concerned that he (Floyd) can’t see himself.”