Floyd Schofield’s father, Floyd Sr., says his son will beat the royal stuffing out of Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis when they get the chance to challenge him for his WBA lightweight crown. Schofield (17-0, 12 KOs) is breathing down Tank’s neck at #2 with the WBA, and it’s only a matter of time before the World Boxing Association orders the fight.
(Credit: Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda)
Schofield, 22, believes that Tank is going to vacate his WBA title and move up to 140 rather than stick around and have to fight him. When that happens, Schofield says he’ll be fighting a big name.
When #3 WBA Edwin De Los Santos was mentioned as the guy that he’s likely to face, Schofield smiled. De Los Santos would be next in line unless he doesn’t want to take the risk. If that happens, it would be #4 Andy Cruz, the 2020 Olympic gold medalist from Cuba, who beat Keyshawn Davis repeatedly in the amateurs.
“Everybody has their opinion, but he’s just a regular man with power,” said Schofield to the Cigar Talk channel about Gervonta Davis. “Tank just one of those fighters that you can get lucky and outbox him, but even in that 12th round, you got to watch out for them hands.”
“Difference is we going to beat the s*** out of Tank,” said Schofield Sr.
Tank Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) isn’t likely to fight Schofield because he mainly fights PBC fighters, and when he does choose to face non-PBC guys, they’re always beatable. Schofield would be a threat to Tank. So, he’s not going to get a chance to face him.
That means that if the WBA does order the fight, Tank will vacate, as Schofield predicts, and move up to 140, where he make more money in that division. There are a lot more potential bigger fights for Tank at light welterweight than there are at 135. Shakur Stevenson is the only popular fighter left, but he’s likely to lose to William Zepeda in February. So, that would be the last remaining viable [read: easy] target for a money fight for Tank.
“When that fight happens, I want my props said Schofield about a fight between him, a high-ranked contender for the WBA belt after Tank vacates. “I don’t know, brother,” said Schofield when asked if he’ll fight #3 Edwin De Los Santos for the WBA belt after Tank gives it up.
Schofield will need to box De Los Santos for him to beat him because he’s one of the biggest punchers in the 135-lb division. His boxing skills are rudimentary, but his power is top-notch and perhaps the second-best in the division behind Tank. If Schofield gets hit clean by De Los Santos, he’s going to sleep.
On sparring Shakur Stevenson
“He said, ‘What weight do you fight at? Man, you hit hard,’” said Schofield about what Shakur Stevenson had said to him after sparring. “Come on, bro. You know.”
As Schofield says, the sparring with Shakur took place in 2020, when he was just 17 years old, and he was giving him massive problems. You can only imagine what Schofield would do to Shakur now if he got the chance to fight him, but that’s if Stevenson could make it through training camp without needing to cancel the fight due to his brittle hands.
Shakur’s hands can’t hold up to fighting at the lightweight level. Ever since the Newark native Shakur moved up to 135 in 2023, he’s been breaking down like an old car. He’s completely useless at lightweight since moving up. Stevenson needs to move back down to 130 or 126, where they don’t hit as hard, and life is less arduous.
“The thing is, Shakur was getting schooled,” said Schofield Sr.
“His excuse was he was calculating data. He was letting me get my punches off. That’s a lie. He didn’t throw more than 20 punches during that whole sparring,” said Schofield, reacting to being told that Shakur said that he had started running after he hit him with a body shot in round two.