NEW YORK — Eric Gomez barely made it to his seat in time to watch
Floyd Schofield Jr. make a stunning statement on June 28.
Golden Boy Promotions' president felt Schofield could defeat
Tevin Farmer because he and Oscar De La Hoya always believed in his talent.
Gomez's faith in the undefeated lightweight notwithstanding, he definitely didn't think Schofield (19-0, 13 KOs) would
tear through a former IBF junior lightweight champion who gave
William Zepeda difficulty during back-to-back bouts.
Gomez wasn't even settled at ringside when Schofield dropped Farmer (33-9-1, 8 KOs, 1 NC) twice and overwhelmed a much more experienced, proven opponent who'd
predicted he would teach the 22-year-old a lesson on the Jake Paul-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. undercard at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Referee Gerard White stopped their 10-round bout only 1:18 into it, in part because a disoriented Farmer couldn’t defend himself.
Schofield's impressive win was especially satisfying for him and his team because of all of the understandable backlash he took after his
infamous removal from a fight with WBC lightweight champ
Shakur Stevenson almost five months ago.
Schofield's father, Floyd Sr., initially claimed his son was hospitalized four days before he was supposed to face Stevenson because he was poisoned. The British Boxing Board of Control, which regulated that Riyadh Season card Feb. 22, wouldn't allow Schofield to fight Stevenson after he was admitted to hospital in Saudi Arabia’s capital city.
"Incredible," Gomez told The Ring regarding Schofield's performance. "It was a coming-out party for him. It was a dangerous fight to begin with. A lotta people weren't choosing him to win. They had him losing the fight. He came out and proved everybody wrong. He's ready for anybody. He wants to fight the winner of Shakur and Zepeda, so we'll see if that's possible. If Zepeda wins, we can definitely make that fight."
Golden Boy also promotes Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs), who will challenge Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) for his WBC belt on Saturday night at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens. Stevenson isn't promoted by De La Hoya's company, but Gomez would welcome rescheduling the bout with Schofield.
First, the heavily favored Stevenson has to defeat Zepeda as part of "Ring III," a DAZN Pay-Per-View show ($59.99 in the U.S.; £24.99 in the UK).
"We're open to it," Gomez said. "[Stevenson is] gonna need to fight guys with names, and I think Schofield put himself on the map."
Stevenson told The Ring two months ago that
Schofield would need to do something special if the three-division champion were to seriously consider agreeing to fight the Austin, Texas, native again.
"He gotta do something very big for that to happen," Stevenson said. "But as of right now, why would I give an opportunity to somebody when I already gave him an opportunity of a lifetime, and he slapped me in my face?"
Gomez believes Schofield's destruction of Farmer qualifies as "something very big" that warrants an opportunity to face the Stevenson-Zepeda winner.
"It was very impressive," Gomez said. "He just knocked out a former world champion, a guy that went 22 rounds with Zepeda, which is not easy. And he made it look simple. He caught him and finished the job. … Everybody was shocked. We're very happy for the kid."
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing