WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson trains for his title defense against the unheralded Floyd Schofield on February 22nd in Riyadh. Fans are curious to see if Shakur, 27, can make it through training camp without suffering a relapse from his right hand injury.
Hand Healed?
Shakur injured his right hand in training for his title defense against Joe Cordina on the Oct. 12 card. The fight was cancelled, and this will be Shakur’s first return since surgery.
If Stevenson’s surgically repaired right hand breaks during the Schofield fight, he will be forced to move around the ring like he did against Edwin De Los Santos in their fight on November 16, 2023.
Assuming Stevenson makes it through training camp without his hands falling apart, he has a tough fight against the 22-year-old Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs). This guy can punch, he’s aggressive, and he sees this fight as a way to put himself in a position to fight Gervont Davis.
Shakur needs to look good in this fight as he plays on a Turki Al-Shiekh loaded card in Riyadh. His fight with Schofield is buried under four other fights on the card, signaling that he has lost his status after two lackluster performances against Artem Harutyunyan and Edwin De Los Santos.
Schofield has had no experience with world-level opponents in his short career, and some fans believe the only reason he won the title against Shakur was because his father talked about his journey to the match on social media.
Schofield has been rated highly by the World Boxing Association for his victories over unusual opponents, but he doesn’t rank top 15 in the truest sense of the word. Floyd struggled to beat Rene Tellez Girona’s calla on Nov. 2 in his last fight.
Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) needs to impress against Floyd Jr., who is 22, to win back the fans he lost after his last two fights against De Los Santos and Harutyunyan. Many people gave up on Shakur, considering him a typical runner after those two struggles.
Stevenson has struggled since turning pro after being defeated by Cuba’s Robeisi Ramirez in the finals of the 2016 Olympics. Some naive boxing fans hoped Shakur would evolve. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The saying goes, ‘A tiger cannot change its stripes.’
Newark-born Shakur just doesn’t fit into this modern boxing era. He belongs to the Mayweather era of the 1990s before the Internet age. Today, fans have little patience for boring fighters running around. You have to have fun.
Schofield is not as big a shot as De Los Santos, but he is still dangerous and young. He will go all out, looking to knock out Stevenson to position himself for a fight against Gervonta Davis.
8 weeks left 📸 @ShakurStevenson pic.twitter.com/kVFaJGMV9J
— Shot Bi Zak📸 (@ShotBiZak) January 2, 2025