Floyd Schofield Sr. said in an interview tonight that a fight between his son Kid Austin and WBC heavyweight champion Shakur Stevenson will be announced on Monday, December 2 in Saudi Arabia for the February 22 card in Riyadh.
Official on Monday
Schofield says the Shakur-Kid Austin fight will be announced by the time American fans wake up Monday morning tomorrow. He says it’s a “done deal” and that Golden Boy and the network have come to an agreement.
Fans on social media are still in disbelief that this fight is happening, but we’ll see tomorrow if Mr. Floyd is serious about getting the deal done.
Oscar De La Hoya said he felt Schofield needed more experience before taking on three-division world champion Shakur, who is older and will be fighting later in the pro ranks. He has fought better opponents and is an Olympic silver medalist.
Schofield Sr. struggles with Shakur on the rush, and he finds out the hard way that he may not be happy with the outcome of this game. He didn’t say the purse for Kid Austin, but it’s probably two million. For Schofield Sr. to be so keen, it would have to be Floyd Jr.’s biggest payday to date.
Looking for a knockout
“They announce in their country (Saudi Arabia), it should be broadcast. This is a deal. Everything is fine,” Floyd Schofield told Drunk punch boxing about his fight with Shakur Stevenson official for February 22 in Riyadh.
“I commend him for keeping his promise. It’s going to be a great fight,” Floyd Sr. said of Shakur making good on his promise to fight Kid Austin. “De Los Santos was flat. ‘The Kid’ is not flat-footed. Our goal is to knock him out.
“I don’t think they will give it to us on the card. So our goal is to strategically knock out. We’re excited because no matter what people say, “The baby isn’t ready.” The Kid has the ability to punch and everybody knows the Kid can rip.”
To rush Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs), it’s a strong signal that it’s all about the money, as he hasn’t fought an opponent in his four-year career.
He was supposed to fight Kid Austin with a top 15 contender to get him ready to fight for the world title, but they cut corners. Schofield will still have the power, youth and speed advantage over Shakur. If he can get past Stevenson’s accurate shots to land something big, he has a chance. It is difficult to reach Shakur without hands.
“This is all he needs. Shakur needs to be flawless for 12 rounds. We only need to hook that chin once or twice and it’s a done deal. So we’re excited about that,” Schofield Sr. said.
Kid Austin doesn’t have one punch power. He hits hard, but he gets most of his knockouts from landing an accumulation of punches during fights heading into the second half. The thing is, Schofield hasn’t fought a top class opponent and yet he hasn’t been able to score quick knockouts.
“We saw his (Shakur) last fight. How much growth have we seen? His hand was injured. I don’t see him getting more knockouts. So his knockout percentage didn’t increase. Has he become more skilled?” Schofield said of Shakur.
Obviously, Stevenson was not designed to fight at lightweight. He hit his ceiling when he was fighting at 126 weight, and he doesn’t have the power to hurt fighters at 135. But that doesn’t matter because Kid Austin is not a big knockout puncher and the only way he can win is by decision. He can’t land on KO Shakur very often.
