Schofield’s first-round knockout of Farmer, a former IBF junior lightweight champion, in June 2025 was by far the best win of his career. It temporarily took the focus off his controversial fight-week withdrawal from a potentially career-defining matchup against Shakur Stevenson four months earlier and solidified Schofield as a top contender in the 135-pound division.

Unfortunately, he never received his shot at WBA lightweight champ Gervonta Davis, who was eventually stripped of that title after wasting months of Schofield’s career. The 24-year-old Austin, Texas native, can start making up for lost time Saturday night, when he’ll end a 15-month layoff by facing dangerous Canadian Lucas Bahdi (20-0, 15 KOs) for the vacant championship taken from Davis.

Schofield (19-0, 13 KOs) acknowledged during a press conference Thursday that “I got a lot to prove” in a main event DAZN will stream from DePaul University’s Wintrust Arena in Chicago (8 p.m. ET).

“Kid Austin” needs to prove that his quick destruction of Farmer wasn’t an aberration.

He was knocked down during the 11th round of his previous fight, a unanimous points victory over Rene Tellez in November 2024. Schofield and his outspoken father/trainer, Floyd Sr., drew criticism because they didn’t realize that it was a 12-round bout until after the 10th had concluded.

Schofield agreed to face Stevenson, then the WBC lightweight champ, next. He was removed from that bout four days before it was scheduled to take place in February 2025.

Schofield Sr. insists his son was “poisoned,” though they have yet to provide evidence to support their controversial claim as to why he was hospitalized in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that week. The elder also suggested during a recent episode of DAZN commentator Chris Mannix’s podcast that Teofimo Lopez threw his fight with Stevenson on January 31.

The Schofields’ inspiring story of overcoming homelessness is well documented. The father deserves a lot of credit for helping his son out of such dire circumstances and guiding him into this position.

Junior seems to understand, though, that the time has come to reposition the focus on what he can accomplish in the ring, rather than outrageous conspiracy theories. He recognizes that Bahdi can crack, but believes he is entirely too skillful and diverse for a heavy-handed contender who emerged from obscurity by coming from behind to KO undefeated prospect Ashton Sylve in the sixth round of a July 2024 bout.

“My dad gonna promote fights,” Schofield said. “He gonna say what he gotta say. Ain’t nobody gonna do nothing about it, so my dad’s gonna keep posting what he posts. And Saturday, it’s just gonna be getting started. My career’s just gonna be getting started.”

If he beats Bahdi, Schofield will want a title unification fight against WBC champ William Zepeda or WBO champ Abdullah Mason next. Whatever awaits him in 2027, a win would move him into a prominent position and at least afford Schofield the momentum he couldn’t build upon after his one-minute, 18-second demolition of Farmer.

Devin Haney and Stevenson seemingly need each other more with each passing week.

Haney hasn’t fought in the 10½ months since he beat Brian Norman for the WBO welterweight title. Stevenson’s layoff exceeded eight months recently and the other options presented to him since he signed with Zuffa Boxing over the summer either want more money (Gary Antuanne Russell) or don’t appeal to The Ring and WBO junior welterweight champ (Jose Valenzuela).

Though some fans fear Haney versus Stevenson will become too tactical, it’s shortsighted to complain when two of the top 10 fighters pound-for-pound in the sport are matched while in their physical primes.

Haney has committed, on social media anyway, to a catchweight of 145 pounds, one above their original non-binding agreement. The smaller Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) indicated he would give up the rehydration clause he sought if Haney (33-0, 15 KOs) comes down two pounds lower than the welterweight limit.

They seem serious about finalizing a deal this time, maybe because they realize they’ve somewhat squandered the momentum they'd built by beating Norman and Lopez so impressively.

Dana White was wrong when he said he knew the site of the Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua fight. He won’t be the primary promoter of the biggest fight in British boxing history, either.

The UFC president and CEO couldn’t have been more correct, however, when he encapsulated his tedious war of words with Eddie Hearn by stating, “Who gives a s***?”

Hearn had every right to demand that Sela, the Saudi company funding the bout, stick to the contract he and Joshua signed and bring their heavyweight showdown to the UK, where it belonged all along. The Matchroom Boxing chairman understandably questioned, too, why White needed to be involved in a fight he had no involvement in building over the last 10-plus years.

That said, this constant back and forth about whether White can be present at press conferences and which company will handle production on fight night December 11 for Netflix is beyond boring at this point.

Hearn appears pleased that his verbal battles with White have grown his profile in the United States. That’s true, but two more months of this won’t do much to generate interest in the fight itself.

It was refreshing to hear Hearn’s blunt assessment of Ben Whittaker’s performance last weekend in Birmingham, England.

The typically optimistic promoter knew Whittaker, who hadn’t gone 12 rounds before this bout, was exposed when forced by Conor Wallace to box beyond the second round for the first time in five fights. Getting buzzed in the 10th and nearly knocked out in the 12th by an unproven underdog showed exactly why Hearn was reluctant to match Whittaker against a puncher like Anthony Yarde even after “The Surgeon” blew out four straight opponents over a 14-month span from April 2025 until June 27.

Hearn also admitted that Whittaker (13-0-1, 9 KOs) isn’t ready to challenge a fighter of Dmitry Bivol’s caliber, despite that beating Wallace (17-2, 12 KOs) in their IBF light heavyweight elimination match made the brash Brit the mandatory challenger for a belt.

An exhausted Whittaker, 29, showed resilience while withstanding Wallace’s rally late in the final round and earned the unanimous points victory. Whittaker’s above-average power won’t be enough, though, to beat elite-level light heavyweights such as Bivol or Artur Beterbiev, even at their advanced ages.

Hearn mentioned Yarde and Joshua Buatsi again as potential opponents for Whittaker in 2027. If Whittaker would fight either, should Buatsi beat Willy Hutchinson again in their rematch November 7 in Manchester, such a win would at least demonstrate he learned from his struggles with Wallace.