Chicago, Illinois – Floyd “Kid Austin” Schofield (20-0, 13 KOs) captured the vacant WBA lightweight world title Saturday night by defeating “Prince” Lucas Bahdi (20-1, 15 KOs at the Wintrust Arena.
Bahdi proved much more difficult than expected. Schofield told the media after the fight that he had surprising power: “I didn’t expect him to have as much power as he did. I was kinda sleeping on his power until he caught me, but then once he caught me I kinda want to get that back, but I was like what’s more important, showing I got ego or going to get the world title.”
Floyd won a unanimous decision victory but appeared much closer than what it was scored officially: Alfredo Gallardo had it 119-108, Dave DeJonge judged it 116-110, and Steve Weisfeld scored it the closest at 115-111.
Both fighters scored a knockdown, but the difference was in Schofield’s ability to land punches and utilize lateral movement effectively to evade Bahdi’s counterattack, which won him the fight. Lucas struggled with Floyd’s movement, saying, “He was really quick on his feet. He wouldn’t stop moving all f**king night. He didn’t want to engage, but he fought a smart fight.” Schofield outlanded Bahdi 117 to 74 in total punches landed, connecting on 37.2 percent of his power punches. Lucas was limited offensively and was only able to land 23.5 percent of his total punches (Compubox). It was a tough match for Kid Austin, but ultimately his tactical boxing won the match.
Floyd stated after the fight that he’s dedicated his life to boxing and that becoming a world champion was always a dream he strived for. Now that he’s become world champion, he’ll take some time to rest and assess who’s next for him. WBO lightweight champion Abdullah Mason has expressed interest in unifying and would like to fight Schofield in the near future. There’s also recently crowned WBC lightweight champion William Zepeda, who is also promoted by Golden Boy and would be the easiest fight to make in terms of negotiating a deal between fighters of the same promotional stable.
As to what promoter Oscar De La Hoya has in mind for the two, it remains to be seen. A fight between any of the lightweight champions would be highly entertaining and competitive, as all the current fighters are skillful. Shakur Stevenson took to X and provided his own personal assessment of the fight, posting, “A C-level fighter beat an F-level fighter!!” However, Kid Austin posted his own post stating, in essence, that the ship has sailed on that and would instead pursue fights against Zepeda and Gary Russell. Shakur Stevenson appears to have his eyes set on a super fight match against Devin Haney. As for Floyd, if he pursues a unification match against any of the other lightweight champions, he’ll begin an interesting championship reign.
