“He’s No Threat”: Schofield Dismisses Stevenson’s Chances In Upcoming Bout

Floyd Schofield reacted with amusement to Shakur Stevenson telling the media last weekend that he hopes he doesn’t back out of their February 22nd fight in Riyadh. ‘Kid Austin’ Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) says Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) isn’t the type of threat that would make him want to pull out.

Schofield says he has “passport” problems, which kept him from traveling to London to take part in Turki Al-Sheikh’s Ring Award. Otherwise, he would have been there to be seen and give interviews, just like the many other fighters who received their invites.

One-handed Shakur?

The challenger, Schofield, doesn’t view WBC lightweight champion Shakur as some dangerous fighter because he’s not a puncher, and he’s right. The Newark, New Jersey native Shakur is a pure 100% boxer who retreats when met with pressure and shows no willingness to stand in the pocket if his opponents have power. Stevenson is probably the most timid champion in the sport and shows no will to fight.

In Stevenson’s last fight against Artem Harutyunyan, he 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 leaving in large numbers, heading towards the exits by 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 still didn’t use it while hitting the mitts with one of his coaches. I don’t know Shakur’s chances in this fight if that glass hand falls apart. Schofield is too strong and throws too many punches for a one-armed Kur to survive.

With just 38 days before the February 22nd card, it’s not a good sign that Stevenson still isn’t using that hand. A problem isn’t going to go away in five weeks. If anyone has hand surgery, it takes a lot longer than five weeks to recover.

“I thought for what? He don’t bring nothing to the table to make a person back out of a fight. But that’s Shakur. He’s always going to have something smart to say. Hopefully, he keeps the same energy February 22nd,  but no one is backing out of the fight,” said Floyd Schofield to MillCity Boxing, reacting to Shakur Stevenson saying that he hopes he doesn’t back out of the fight after his no-show at the Ring Awards in London last Saturday.

“That’s what he’s supposed to say. If feel thie same way about him,” said Schofield, talking a video interview where Shakur says, ‘Deep down inside, he [Kid Austin] knows he can’t beat me.’

“He’s no threat to me. I can’t bash him for saying what he’s supposed to, but I wouldn’t have took the fight if I didn’t feel that way. He must be self-projecting because I’m here, I’m training and getting my sparring,” said Schofield about another video of Shakur saying that he’s “Worried that he [Floyd] might not show up.”