Shakur begins camp for Schofield’s title defense

Shakur Stevenson has begun training for his WBC lightweight title defense against Floyd Schofield, which will take place in 65 days on February 22 in Riyadh.

Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) is making his Matchroom Boxing debut against the undefeated Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) in a fight he is favorite to win. Not the one he wanted against number one contender William Zepeda, but he was unavailable due to a hand injury in his last fight on November 16.

De Los Santos Ducked

Shakur’s promoter Eddie Hearn has received criticism from fans for not focusing on scheduling a rematch with Edwin De Los Santos, who he was terrible against last year, on November 16. Stevenson had complained about being injured, but has shown no desire to fight De Los Santos now that he is healthy.

That lack of interest is a clear sign that he knows the threat De Los Santos poses to him and would prefer to fight 22-year-old rookie Schofield so as not to jeopardize his potential unification clash against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. .

Three-division world champion Stevenson talks a big game, but he’s not taking any chances now that he’s on the verge of landing the elusive mega payday against Tank. Shakur has some chicken in itsafely. After Stevenson’s bad experience against De Los Santos last year, he wants nothing to do with him.

Shakur’s defense buried

Shakur vs. Schofield will fight on the undercard of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol on February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. What’s interesting is that the Stevenson-Schofield fight is buried in fifth place on Turki Alalshikh’s card on February 22, below these fights:

• Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2
• Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker: Co-feature
• Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz
• Vergilio Ortiz Jr. vs. Israel Madrimov
• Shakur Stevenson vs. Floyd Schofield

“Shakur was a former fighter in the sense that we used to promote him. I thought he had tremendous talent and I still think he will beat any lightweight with the possible exception of Keyshawn Davis. Neither of them want to fight each other,” Bob Arum told Fight Hub TVtalking about whether Shakur Stevenson could beat Gervonta Davis.

Almost that time📸🤫 pic.twitter.com/N1lyGGPwtG

— Shot by Zax📸 (@ShotByZax) December 18, 2024