Floyd Schofield today responded to reports that his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, has not signed a fight between him and WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson for February 22.

Contract update

Schofield (18-0, 12 KO) posted that De La Hoya is “waiting for Shakur’s team send the final agreement.” He insists his team “knows we’re going to stop Shakur.”

De La Hoya has remained silent about his fighter, Schofield, 22, who will face Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) on Riyadh’s massive card of the season next February. If Oscar has any doubts about inexperienced novice Schofield fighting three-division world champion Shakur, that’s understandable.

Schofield looked like a 100% pure novice in his last fight against René Tellez Giron on November 2. He was dropped and took many hard, punishing shots from a fighter Michel Rivera had dominated. De La Hoya would look incompetent if he allowed Schofield to take this fight. The reaction would be severe for Oscar and the career of his fighter, Schofield, would be ruined.

Schofield’s stock would fall following a one-sided loss to Stevenson, and it’s possible he may never rise again. He would be one of many fighters who lost to Shakur and would never be mentioned by fans again except to be criticized.

A better option for Schofield

With Kid Austin’s No. 2 ranking with the WBA, he can challenge champion Gervonta Davis for his belt, which would likely mean a bigger payday. This would be a better fight for Schofield than facing defensive artist Shakur and finding himself in a fight that could prove boring.

Assuming the Shakur-Schofield fight isn’t arrives, Shakur must give Edwin De Los Santos a rematch so he can show fans that his poor performance against him in 2023 was really due to a hand injury.

As it stands, fans don’t believe Shakur was injured in the De Los Santos fight. They felt his power and he began to run for the rest of the fight, which was booed heavily by fans at ringside at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The Nevada crowd doesn’t like to watch runners. This style might work in Newark, New Jersey, but not elsewhere. You entertain, and Shakur’s archaic, outdated style was poison to T-Mobile fans.

Shakur mentioned this week that he wanted to sign De Los Santos so he could promote him. Fans see this as a sneaky way for Shakur to have an excuse to dodge. If Stevenson signs De Los Santos, he will have a permanent excuse to tell fans why he isn’t fighting him.

-Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) November 28, 2024