Boxing

Shakur Stevenson Breaks Silence On Floyd Schofield Pulling Out Of Fight

Shakur Stevenson broke his silence about Floyd Schofield pulling out of their scheduled fight.

Grant Young

Shakur Stevenson during a March 7, 2024 press conference.
Shakur Stevenson during a March 7, 2024 press conference. / IMAGO / Torsten Helmke

On February 18, news broke that Floyd "Kid Austin" Schofield was pulling out of his scheduled bout with Shakur Stevenson, which was supposed to take place at Riyadh Season's 'The Last Crescendo' event and be for Stevenson's WBC lightweight title.

While Stevenson has since found a new opponent in Josh Padley (a 29-year-old English boxer with a 15-0 record that includes 4 KOs), the biggest story swirling around this fight is exactly why Schofield pulled out.

His team initially asserted that Schofield had to pull out due to injury, only then to accuse Stevenson's team of poisoning Schofield, which they allege led to him being withdrawn from the fight.

Regardless of the reasons, the bottom line is that Schofield is not fighting Stevenson on Saturday. Stevenson broke his silence about this situation during a February 19 interview with Ring Magazine.

"Oh, do I believe it? Come on," Stevenson said when asked whether he believed Schofield pulled out due to injury. "Come on. Like, I'm telling ya... This is my assumption of the whole situation: I think this kid was struggling to make the weight class, and I feel like he may have tried last minute to make the weight, and he probably kinda had weight problems. And I think that was really the issue.

"But instead of saying that, they like to come up with all types of crazy stuff every day," Stevenson continued. He then said, "It was more disappointing because I felt as though a lot of people did not want that fight... So truthfully, I was just giving him an opportunity... and this guy basically slapped me in the face at the same time too, just because the opportunity was for you, bro."

Stevenson is fair to feel disappointed about Schofield pulling out just a few days before the fight.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Boxing, Women’s Basketball, and the New York Mets for On SI. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years, and he thinks it’s time that Canelo Álvarez fights David Benavidez.