Floyd Schofield has volunteered to be the opponent for WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd following William Zepeda’s choosing not to take the fight due to a left-hand injury.
Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) is agreeable to the 22-year-old Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) and wants him to tell his promoter Oscar De La Hoya to make the fight.
De La Hoya’s Decision
Oscar would need to give the green light to that match happening, and there are several reasons why he might not want to:
- Schofield’s lack of experience
- Age: Floyd is 22
- Money not life-changing: Schofield can likely get a bigger payday fighting Gervont Davis.
- Unimpressive recent performance against Rene Tellez Giron.
Stevenson had seemed almost desperate since yesterday when he learned that William Zepeda had an injured left hand and wouldn’t be able to fight him on February 22nd. #1 WBC Zepeda suffered the injury in his 10-round split decision win over Tevin Farmer last Saturday night at The Venue in Riyadh.
While fans believe Zepeda is ducking Shakur, it doesn’t matter. He’s not fighting him, and he needs to find a good opponent that will get fans excited. Thus far, Shakur has expressed interest in fighting George Kambosos Jr and Teofimo Lopez.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has the finances to find a good opponent for Shakur, but it depends on whether his promoter, Eddie Hearn, would be willing to put him in against someone who could potentially beat him.
Hearn is trying to turn Shakur into a “global superstar,” and he can’t do that if he’s beaten by someone like Andy Cruz, Abdullah Mason, or Keyshawn Davis. Shakur won’t fight Keyshawn because they’re friends, but he would be a good option.
