ANAHEIM, California — Floyd Schofield
pulled out of a scheduled fight with lightweight champ Shakur Stevenson only four days before the event in February and never really explained why, leaving many to question his mettle.
Well, whatever ailed him then, he couldn’t have been in better form on the Jake Paul-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. card Saturday.
The unbeaten lightweight put former titleholder
Tevin Farmer down twice before the fans at Honda Center had settled into their seats, prompting the referee to stop the action only 1:18 into the scheduled 10-rounder.
That’s the kind of statement he had hoped to make after the events early this year.
“It just feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” Schofield said in the ring. “I’ve been doubted ever since what happened. A lot [of people] thought I wouldn’t win this fight. … I was depressed. I wanted to quit boxing. …
“My dad kept me focused, my baby son kept me focused. I will fight to the death. He’s going to know that his dad was a warrior.”
Schofield (19-0, 13 KOs) landed the biggest blow of fight about 30 seconds after the opening bell, a right hand that put
Farmer (33-9-1, 8 KOs) on his pants and hurt him.
Farmer was able to get up but was in big trouble. Schofield followed with a flurry of hard punches, which sent Farmer down again. He got to his feet once more but another barrage of shots convinced the ref that he couldn’t defend himself.
Schofield and his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, made it clear after the fight that they wanted another chance to fight
Stevenson, assuming the titleholder gets past
William Zepeda.“Shakur had better focus because [I’m] coming,” Schofield said.
Said De La Hoya: “Right now you saw the future star at 135. He put everybody on notice from now on.”