Shakur Stevenson suspected for more than a month that something would prevent Floyd Schofield from fighting him Saturday night.

The unbeaten WBC lightweight champion’s skepticism intensified when Schofield offered a peculiar explanation for not attending a press conference January 13 in London to promote their 12-round fight on “The Last Crescendo” undercard for the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitriy Bivol light heavyweight championship rematch at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Stevenson’s suspicions were validated Tuesday, when the British Boxing Board of Control determined that Schofield’s brief illness made him unfit for licensure following a visit to a local hospital.

Once the BBBofC removed Schofield from this loaded pay-per-view show Tuesday night, representatives for Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) began considering England’s Josh Padley (15-0, 4 KOs) and Spain’s Moussa Gholam (22-1, 13 KOs) as a potential replacement for Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs).

Stevenson detailed during a recent interview with Andre Ward exactly why he felt Schofield would not make it to the ring on fight night.

“I’m actually scared,” Stevenson told Ward during an expansive question-and-answer session that premiered earlier Tuesday on Ward’s “All The Smoke” podcast on YouTube . “Like I’m actually scared that they not gonna show up to the fight. And I’m gonna go put in all of this [work]. All of this work I’m puttin’ in right now, I just feel like they lookin’ for an excuse, like they lookin’ for a way out.”

The 27-year-old Stevenson initiated negotiations to fight Schofield as part of this highly anticipated pay-per-view event because Schofield’s father and trainer, Floyd Schofield Sr., regularly called out the three-division champion and Olympic silver medalist. The younger Schofield, who sparred with Stevenson several years ago, admitted he looked up to the Newark, New Jersey native during his ascent from amateur star to top prospect and now contender.

Schofield, of Austin, Texas, celebrated what was to be his first seven-figure purse on social media once the Stevenson fight was secured. That’s why Ward couldn’t make sense of Stevenson’s theory that Schofield didn’t want to go through with what most likely would’ve been his most difficult fight in four years as a pro.

“But why would you go and make up a lie,” Stevenson told Ward, “and say that I sent somebody to steal your passport?”

An incredulous Ward, who was once part of Stevenson’s management team, initially thought Schofield accused a random thief of tearing the page with Schofield’s signature on it out of his passport, the supposed reason he couldn’t fly from the United States to London for the abovementioned press conference.

“He said, basically, somebody broke into his house and they ripped the page out of his passport,” Stevenson said. “I swear to [God] – I’m not making this up. So now, like, it got me worried, cuz it’s like, ‘Are you gonna show up to Saudi? Or are you gonna say somebody stole your passport? Or are you gonna make up some type of excuse to why you not comin’ to the fight?’ But, I mean, people tellin’ me he still out here talking, so hopefully he show up.”

Stevenson scoffed at Schofield’s suggestion that Stevenson did whatever he could to prevent Schofield from traveling halfway around the world for their fight. Schofield and his father traveled to Riyadh recently, but sitting in a ring a few days ago for a group discussion with other fighters scheduled to fight Saturday night was as close as Stevenson and Schofield came to squaring off.

“He accused me of sending somebody to do it,” Stevenson said of the supposed passport caper. “I don’t even know where he’s at. I have no clue. I can’t tell you right now where he’s at.”