Floyd Schofield has responded today to reports that his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, has not signed a fight between him and WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson for February 22.
Contract Update
Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) posted that De La Hoya is “waiting for Shakur’s team to send the final agreement.He insists his team “knows we’re going to stop Shakur.”
De La Hoya was tight-lipped about his fighter, 22-year-old Schofield, who faces Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) on the massive Riyadh Season card next February. If Oscar does have reservations about the inexperienced rookie Schofield taking on the three-division world champion Shakur, it’s understandable.
Schofield looked like a pure 100% beginner in his last fight against Rene Tellez Giron on November 2. He was dropped and took a lot of hard, punishing shots from a fighter who dominated Michel Rivera. De La Hoya will look incompetent if he allows Schofield to take that fight. The backlash would be severe for Oscar, and his fighter Schofield’s career would be ruined.
Schofield’s stock will plummet from a one-sided loss to Stevenson, and it’s possible he’ll never get back up. He would be one of the many fighters who lost to Shakur and would never be mentioned again by fans except to be criticized.
A better option for Schofield
With Kid Austin’s #2 ranking in the WBA, he could challenge champion Gervonta Davis for his belt, which would likely be a bigger payday. That would be a better fight for Schofield to take than facing defensive performer Shakur, and outboxing in what could be a dull affair.
Assuming the Shakur-Schofield fight doesn’t happens, Shakur has to give Edwin Delos Santos a rematch so he can show fans that his poor performance against him in 2023 was really due a hand injury.
As things stand, fans don’t believe Shakur was injured in the De Los Santos fight. They felt the power of him, and he took off for the rest of the fight, which was heavily booed by the fans at ringside at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The Nevada crowd doesn’t like watching runners. That style might work in Newark, New Jersey, but not elsewhere. You entertain, and Shakur’s dated, archaic hit-and-miss style was poison to the fans at the T-Mobile.
Shakur mentioned this week that he wants to sign De Los Santos so he can promote him. Fans see this as a sneaky way for Shakur to have an excuse. If Stevenson signs De Los Santos, he’ll have a permanent excuse to tell fans why he’s not fighting him.
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) November 28, 2024
