Floyd Schofield Jr. and his dad, Floyd Sr, are saying they’ve agreed to their percentage of the money for a fight against Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd, and they’re just waiting for the clash to be announced by DAZN and Golden Boy.
Schofield Sr. states that Kid Austin (18-0, 12 KOs) was “built” to defeat WBC lightweight champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs); he knows his style well from their sparring sessions a while back and feels confident they’re going to win.
Fans on social media view this as an unfair mismatch because the 27-year-old Shakur has a big experience advantage over the 22-year-old Schofield, who has yet to fight a top-tier contender during his four-year career.
This is about the best Shakur could get after William Zepeda chose not to take the fight due to a left-hand injury. Shakur’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, didn’t mention Andy Cruz and Edwin De Los Santos as plan B options. He wanted Denys Berinchyk or Raymond Muratalla if Schofield wasn’t the one.
“This is boxing. I’m not banking on one shot. I feel I’ve got experience, and he’s got experience. He might feel he’s got a lot more experience, and maybe he do because he went to the Olympics. That’s something I never got to do,” said Floyd Schofield to Cigar Talk, talking about Shakur Stevenson.
Shakur went to the Olympics in 2016 but lost because he was moving too much and not throwing punches. He was in denial after losing to Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez, believing he’d done enough.
That style has not changed with Shakur. Schofield can win this fight if he’s aggressive and pushes the fight to land his shots. He can’t give the fight away by letting Shakur run around, throwing jab or two to win the round. That’s what he’ll do, and that’s why he’s seen as one of the most boring fighters in the sport.
“He got to see a lot of different styles, but that has nothing to do with the right,” said Schofield. “Everybody has got to wait until February to see. It’s going to be a good fight.”
“Not against Floyd. I know he boxes better than Shakur,” said Schofield Sr. about his son, Kid Austin. “You got to remember. He got Shakur ready for his first professional fight. He was Shakur’s sparring partner and he asked him to come back and get him ready for his other fights.
“So, this isn’t someone he boxed circles. I watched it. It’s going to be a good fight. You don’t bring somebody back to your camp if they’re a bum,” said Kid Austin about him being invited back as a sparring partner for Shakur.
“There’s a counter style for a boxer, which I won’t tell you about. He was built to defeat Shakur. Shakur befriends those who are real good, ” said Schofield Sr.
Kid Austin is going to have to pressure Shakur and not let him run around the ring all night because if he does that, he’ll nullify his offense and win a dull 12-round decision. Shakur is fine with landing 10 punches per round and winning a decision doing the minimum. He’s one of those fighters who wants to stay out of harm’s way.
