Floyd Schofield is unlikely to appear on any of The Ring or Riyadh Season’s shows after fumbling his opportunity by allegedly faking the hospitalization that occurred prior to his cancelled February 22nd bout against Shakur Stevenson. Turki Alalshikh ― head of Riyadh Season ― clarified the circumstances that led to Schofield’s withdrawal and suggested the fighter had actually quit, which coupled with lies spread by his father has ultimately barred the American fighter from competing on any of Alalshikh’s cards.
The circumstance that led to Floyd Schofield’s withdrawal from the February 22nd Bivol vs. Beterbiev card against Shakur Stevenson (24-0, 11 KO’s) had been mired with contradictions from the start.
Though the initial reports of Schofield’s (19-0, 13 KO’s) absence was explained to be due to some illness, Floyd Schofield Sr. ― trainer and father of Schofield ― came out launching accusations against Team Stevenson for allegedly food poisoning his son.
Despite Schofield appearing hospitalized due to his illness, Schofield Sr.’s claims were largely taken with a pinch of salt with Stevenson’s promoter, Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn, speculating that Schofield was having weight struggles while a connection with Daniel Dubois’ own illness ― just days after which forced the British fighter to be pulled off the same February 22nd card ― was also regarded as one reason for Schofield’s hospitalization.
However, there are now doubts as to whether the hospitalization has ever been real after Riyadh Season head and The Ring owner Turki Alalshikh gave his own thoughts on the situation:
“Put yourself in my shoes,” Alalshikh told ThaBoxingVoice after being asked when Schofield would reappear on one of his cards [following the American fighter’s June 28th demolition job over Tevin Farmer].
“The guy [Floyd Schofield], 36 hours before his fight with Shakur [Stevenson] ― good money ― quit. And suddenly, his father began saying a lot of untruthful things about us and my country.
“After that, [Schofield] went and took a normal fight earning 10% of what we offered him. You think this guy deserves another chance?“
Refusing to reference Schofield by name throughout the interview, Alalshikh appeared to regard Schofield Sr.’s unnecessary and unhinged accusations as the primary reason for Schofield’s future absence on Riyadh Season or The Ring cards:
“If this guy is [really] sick in the hospital, I believe him. But why is his father lying and then going to the media to lie about us, and about our country and how we handle him?” Alalshikh said. “And this is all not truth. And we have it in emails and Whatsapp, and he thanks us and everything.
“This is the problem. If you deal with us and deal with me as a promoter, as you’re dealing with promoters, talking lies, talking bad words, this is a different situation. We are different. We respect you, you respect us. Respect me, you will get my eyes. Don’t respect me, I will go my way and you will be begging and chasing me.“
Whether Floyd Schofield Sr. actually implicated Alalshikh and Riyadh Season is doubtful given the trainer deleted a string of posts released on Twitter/X ― with those retrieved clearly seeing Schofield Sr. implicate Team Stevenson in “spiking” his son’s food.
Schofield Sr.’s subsequent thankful message towards Alalshikh and his partners would also contradict the Saudi chairman’s claims of being disrespected, though enough appears to have been said for Alalshikh to no longer entertain Schofield on his cards.
Either way, it now appears Floyd Schofield will not be making a debut on a Riyadh Season or The Ring card any time soon due to the controversial behavior of his father and trainer.
