Floyd Schofield Jr.’s first fight since his removal from a lightweight title fight against Shakur Stevenson will come against another southpaw and former world champion.
Jake Paul’s MVP Promotions announced Friday that Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) will face
Tevin Farmer in a 10-round bout on the pay-per-view portion of the
Jake Paul-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. undercard June 28 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Philadephia’s Farmer (33-8-1, 8 KOs), a former IBF junior lightweight champion, is The Ring’s No. 9 contender in the 135-pound division.
Farmer most recently lost back-to-back bouts by split decision and majority decision to WBC interim lightweight champ William Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs). Mexico’s Zepeda will challenge Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs), a three-division champion from Newark, New Jersey, on
The Ring’s pay-per-view card July 12 at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens.
The British Boxing Board of Control removed Schofield, 22, from his fight with Stevenson because
he was hospitalized four days before it was scheduled to occur Feb. 22 at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Stevenson told The Ring recently that he never thought Schofield would move forward with their fight and was nowhere near the 135-pound limit for their 12-round bout when he was admitted to a hospital in Riyadh.
The Paul-Chavez undercard also will include a 10-round welterweight bout between Avious Griffin (17-0, 16 KOs), of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Julian Rodriguez (23-1, 14 KOs), of Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey.
Griffin, 31, recently signed a promotional contract with Paul’s company. Rodriguez, 30, has lost only to former IBF junior lightweight and WBO lightweight champ Jose Pedraza (29-7-1, 14 KOs), who stopped him after the eighth round of their June 2021 bout at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
Raul Curiel (15-0-1, 13 KOs), a hard-hitting welterweight contender from Mexico, will square off against Victor Ezequiel Rodriguez (16-0-1, 9 KOs) in another 10-rounder on the Paul-Chavez undercard. Curiel will fight for the first time since his hard-fought, 12-round majority draw with Alexis Rocha (25-2-1, 16 KOs) on Dec. 14 at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.
A cruiserweight title bout in which WBA/WBO champ Gilberto Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs) will face former IBF/WBA champ Yuniel Dorticos (27-2, 25 KOs) was previously announced as the co-feature of this pay-per-view event.
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing