Former world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan has made a sensational accusation after a fighter pulled out of an upcoming world title fight.
The 63-year-old from Ireland enjoyed a successful professional career which saw him capture the WBA featherweight title back in 1985 when he outpointed Eusebio Pedroza at Loftus Road Stadium in London.
Since retiring from boxing, McGuigan has gone on to become a respected trainer and manager, where he is best known for working with two-weight world champion Carl Frampton for the majority of his professional career.
As the boxing world gears up for arguably the greatest fight card in the sport’s history, which is topped by the highly anticipated rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, the 63-year-old has accused one of the fighters who was scheduled to take part in a world title fight on the undercard of ‘bottling it’ just days away from fight night.
Speaking to talkSPORT, McGuigan took aim at Floyd Schofield for pulling out of his WBC world title showdown with lightweight superstar Shakur Stevenson.
“It’s interesting, there’s a number of things that could have happened but the first thing I think about when I hear a situation like that, I’m not denying that the kid’s not well but you think ‘oh he’s swallowed, he’s bottled it’.
That’s what you think and of course I don’t know what his medical condition is but that was my initial thoughts. I think he swallowed it, I genuinely think he bottled it. I’m not saying he’s not unwell, he could be, but I just feel like the whole situation has come down on him and he’s in a really tough fight on a huge bill and he’s under a lot of pressure and he might have wanted out. It wouldn’t at all surprise me if that was the case.”
Schofield had reportedly fallen unwell earlier in the week, which eventually ruled him out of his bout against Stevenson. Despite the initial concerns that the WBC lightweight champion would be without an opponent, Britain’s Josh Padley has now stepped in to face Stevenson in a career-changing opportunity for the unbeaten 29-year-old, who made headlines after he defeated the highly-rated Mark Chamberlain at Wembley Stadium last September.
