World title fight called off on Dubois undercard as boxer is hospitalised following 'poisoning accusations'
The father of a young boxer set to fight on the Daniel Dubois v Joseph Parker undercard appears to have claimed his son pulled out after being 'poisoned'.
Floyd Schofield was scheduled to face off against fellow US boxer Shakur Stevenson for the WBC lightweight title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this weekend.
However concerns were raised after Schofield failed to appear at the bout's Grand Arrivals event on Tuesday, with the British Boxing Board of Control later making the decision to withdraw him on medical grounds.
A last minute replacement for Stevenson, who was scheduled to fight before Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol's highly anticipated rematch.
Advert
Following Schofield's withdrawal from the match, his father shared a video on Instagram which saw the 22-year-old boxer in a hospital bed hooked up to a series of machines.
"As a parent I am overwhelmed. People can be cruel and evil. The come back will be major. NO ONE DUCK a FIGHT WITH MR. PILLOW HANDS," the caption read.
"Thank you to the Excellency for their great hospitality. Hopefully in the future we can talk. Right now the focus is my son."
However a number of tweets have since appeared on the boxer's X account, which appear to be from his father, alleging that Schofield had been 'poisoned' and this was the cause for his withdrawal.
According to Metro, Schofield's father wrote in a now deleted tweet that unnamed individuals had 'poisoned his son'.
"People are going to feel dumb when they see the proof," a tweet still live at the time of writing reads.
"People fear Floyd and this just made him more focused. Karma is very real… All things will be revealed in time.
"We look forward going home to Texas and on to the next fight. The fight game is so dirty on this level.
"I won’t say his name but their team need to be banned from the sport. I can see why people duck him, because the bull that comes with his team."
Although no specific person was named in the posts made on Schofield's account, Stevenson's manager Josh Dubin has since called the allegations 'defamation' and demanded an apology from the 22-year-old's camp.
"This fighter [Schofield] should get advised on the defamation laws in our country," he told BoxingScene.
"Saying these things that slander Shakur does not come without legal consequences. Saying that his food was poisoned will not go unrecognised. [Schofield] is being put on notice right now."
He continued: "People might think there’s a kernel of truth in these lies [regarding the poisoning] by his father, when it seems to be a way for him to make an excuse he’s not going to fight.
"We’re not going to tolerate these lies and either [the Schofields] or someone on their behalf needs to publicly apologise now."
LADbible Group has approached representatives of Floyd Schofield and Shakur Stevenson for comment.
Brenna Cooper