Shakur Stevenson will still face the fifth unbeaten fighter of his eight-year pro career Saturday night in Riyadh, though the WBC lightweight champion's Floyd Schofield-shaped preparations have been shelved for a short-notice opponent in Josh Padley.

News broke Tuesday night that Schofield was deemed too ill to be cleared by the British Boxing Board of Control for his scheduled shot at Stevenson's 135-pound title on a busy undercard headlined by the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol undisputed rematch.

Wednesday evening local time, the 27-year-old spoke to talkSPORT about his opponent change, what had transpired behind-the-scenes and also tipped his cap to former long-reigning WBA light-heavyweight champion Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs), who he's looking forward to watching ringside this weekend.

Echoing the same sentiment he shared at the grand arrivals, Stevenson said the opposition was of little importance, just itching to produce a superstar performance while saying he'd never dealt with an opponent engaging in as much "clown stuff" as his 22-year-old compatriot had managed to produce.

"Honestly, I put in a lot of hard work in training camp. It didn't matter who it was, I'm ready to put on a show, whether that be Schofield or Padley now," he said on the Hawksbee and Jacobs show.

"I've been worried and knew it wasn't going to happen, even when he was down here [in Riyadh], he looked well above the weight class, that's what was in my brain. I saw his dad in the elevator last night, he hinted it was going to be off, said he's fine and okay but if he doesn't fight, we have a backup opponent for you."

He extended his well-wishes for Schofield, who has been pictured in hospital and since discharged, theorising the stories and allegations levelled at him were a cover-up to deflect from the 18-0 contender struggling with his weight cut.

"Hopefully he gets better. Initially, I think he was sucked down to the weight, tried making it and was probably dehydrated, instead of just saying that they came out with all these stories."

As for Padley (15-0, 4 KOs), who works as a full-time electrician in the UK, Stevenson praised him answering the call and refused to look past someone hungry to take what he's earned. The 29-year-old, currently ranked #12 by the WBC, outpointed then-unbeaten contender Mark Chamberlain on the Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois undercard, last September 21.

"I've got a guy in-front of me who wants to take my spot, can't let him do that. He wants it a lot more than anybody else, for him to take this opportunity on short-notice means he's focused, think he was getting ready for this. I respect him for what he's doing, I'd do the same if I was in the gym working and close to fight weight.

I watched one round [of Padley sparring], let's just go. I'm gonna beat him up, let him know he's getting in there with an elite-level fighter."

When asked about potentially rescheduling the Schofield bout for a future date, Stevenson remained non-committal.

"I don't like getting ready for this kid, even giving him this opportunity was big. I put him on the stage, I don't know if he deserved to be here, it's hard to say I will with all these shenanigans. When I saw Floyd, thought he was a little kid, not well established... I was a lot sharper than him at that age, didn't truly believe anybody would put him in there with me."

Close friend in newly-crowned WBO titleholder Keyshawn Davis aside, there are big fights for Shakur plotting an active 2025. Yet when asked about potentially boxing Gervonta Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) and others in future, the skilful southpaw stayed respectful before the short-notice challenge ahead while looking forward to watching one man in particular on Saturday night.

"I've got Josh in-front of me, all these conversations have got to wait until I handle business, then we can see. There are really some fun fights to watch on this card, I'll definitely be paying attention and love to watch Bivol anyway so to even be there to watch and study him in person, the little things that make him elite, I'm gonna try to steal some things too."