Eddie Hearn has hailed Floyd “Kid Austin” Schofield’s quest for greatness after the youngster agreed to challenge Shakur Stevenson on February 22.

Schofield, 22, is scheduled to face the more experienced 27-year-old Stevenson for the WBC lightweight championship on Riyadh Season’s February 22 card which has Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol’s rematch as the headliner.

According to promoter Hearn, Schofield, 18-0 (12 KOs), took up the fight with Stevenson, 22-0 (10 KOs), to challenge himself.

“I've gotta give massive props to Floyd Schofield because I think Oscar [Schofield’s promoter] is definitely more cautious than not when it comes to his matchmaking and I sometimes get criticized for not putting my fighters in the right fights and letting them almost cut their wings and fly,” Hearn said. 

“But Floyd Schofield is a really good fighter who wants to challenge himself, wants to make a lot of money, and wants to gamble against Shakur Stevenson. I really like the fight, and I have to give massive props to this young man because they've all had a conversation.”

Hearn’s comments could be an indirect response to Golden Boy Promotions boss Oscar De La Hoya after the former’s fighter Stevenson saw his much-anticipated fight with William Zepeda falling through due to injury. In Zepeda’s absence, Schofield stepped up and decided to take on Stevenson in the biggest fight of his career.

Hearn said he was impressed with Schofield’s temerity to challenge Stevenson despite what he described as De La Hoya’s insistence on the fight not happening.

“I think Oscar's advice, which probably is right for the kid, is we'd like one or two more fights for Schofield, but ideally, that doesn't really happen in boxing. So, for me, it's like the kid had to stand up and go look for a massive payday saying, ‘I think I can beat Shakur. He's coming off a hand injury’.

“There's good beef in the fight. There's good chat. These are young, hungry, unbeaten American fighters. I think it's a really good fight so I was really pleased to get that made.”

Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at bernardneequaye@gmail.com.