Shakur Stevenson vs. Child Schofield? Eddie Hearn is making a “massive offer” for a mismatch fight

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, struggling strongly against the second tier fighter, Rene Tellez Giron (20-4, 13 KOs), is dropped in the 11th and absorbs a career-high penalty earlier this month on Nov. 2.

Hearn Wants Schofield

After that performance, Schofield is by no means ready to fight anyone in the top 10, and certainly not a defensive fighter like Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs), who will be playing. hit and run against him all night.

Hearn says he is also interested in Raymond Muratalla and WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk for Shakur. However, he says the Berinchyk fight will be difficult to fight because there are problems.

He doesn’t say what they are, but Top Rank probably saves Berinchyk for their fighter, Keyshawn Davisto fight Top Rank is trying to make a star out of the severely flawed Keyshawn, and Berinchyk is their best shot at making the Olympic silver medalist a world champion in 2020 without risking his hiding place against one of the talented belt holders.

“Tevin Farmer is a good fighter. Let’s not get it twisted. He’s very skilled, and he’s also quite awkward,” said Eddie Hearn Boxing Newswhich discusses why William Zepeda didn’t shine in his fight against Tevin Farmer on November 16 in Riyadh.

“I think Zepeda is a little overhyped, 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. That’s the sad thing about boxing.

“Rather than take on greatness in Shakur Stevenson, I believe Oscar would rather not lose to Matchroom. “So, we won’t give him (Shakur) that fight. Let’s keep building his (Zepeda’s) record.’ Take a chance. You never know. Sometimes when a fighter steps out at that level, sometimes they perform, and that’s for the world championship.”

Zepeda not available

If Zepeda is injured, what can you do? He hurt his left hand in his 10-round 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 22nd. That might be a good thing for Shakur and Hearn because he’s not going to beat Zepeda.

This talent pours over 100+ shots per round and landed an awful lot of body shots on Farmer. Former IBF super featherweight champion Farmer had never taken so many punches to the body before, and by the eighth round he looked like a drained D-cell battery, just holding on non-stop and trying to stop Zepeda from hitting him.

“The fight is ordered. If he (Zepeda) has a hand injury. I don’t believe they are going to take that fight. Shakur knows we had calls with His Excellency. We would like to unify the (Denys) Berinchyk. There are other fights we are looking at. Muratalla, we’ve talked to Top Rank about it, and we’ve now made Golden Boy an offer for Kid Schofield.”

Hearn wants Schofield because this is a sure win for Shakur Stevenson, and there will be a lot of trash talking in the build up between them. This would be a total mismatch for Shakur, just a showcase level fight. Shakur would be better off fighting Cuban Andy Cruz, the guy who beat Keyshawn Davis four times, including 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 will be a great build up. You have nothing to lose. You have a lot 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 he doesn’t hit hard enough to count on his power to bail him out like Raymond Muratalla. The likely end result of a Shakur-Schofield fight is a one-sided 12-round knockout victory for Shakur, with Schofield being dominated from A to B. It won’t be pretty and will tarnish Schofield’s career forever. There would be no coming back.

Shakur’s Fight Announcement

“So, hopefully one of those fights will be made, 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 announce Shakur’s next fight as early as this week, it is a strong sign that Schofield will be the one he faces. Hearn isn’t going to let Shakur fight the big hitting Muratalla because he hits too hard.

As we saw in Muratalla’s fight against Tevin Farmer, he is dangerous even in the later rounds, even when he is outboxed. All it will take is one solid right hand from Muratalla in the later rounds to send Shakur to the canvas, and he might not get up.

“We named Cordina for the fight (against Shakur). The main plan would be to fight (WBO lightweight champion) Berinchyk for a unification. Of course, Top Rank, there are also some problems. I think it might 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 and saved by Top Rank for the Keyshawn match.