Padley has mostly fought in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lancashire since making his professional debut with a points win over Jamie Quinn in Worksop in 2019, notching up three straight stoppage victories against Clayton Bricknell, Lydon Chircop and Connor Lee Doherty before producing unquestionably the best win of his career to date in September on the early undercard of Dubois’ dominant win over Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium.
Promoters scrambled to find a quick replacement at just four days’ notice to keep Stevenson on the bill, with the ultra-talented three-weight world champion having been scheduled to defend his belt against Wales’ two-time former super-featherweight champion Joe Cordina on the undercard of the first Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol undisputed fight card back in October, only for the bout - the first on his new Matchroom deal - to be cancelled after he suffered a hand injury in training that required surgery.
But Padley will know that Saturday night’s challenge is on another level altogether as he faces an unbeaten superstar southpaw who has won world titles at featherweight, super-featherweight and lightweight en route to amassing a 22-0 professional record with 10 knockouts after winning a silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
With much of the focus on Martin Bakole stepping in for Daniel Dubois to fight Joseph Parker, another very late replacement opponent faces a huge challenge earlier on Saturday night’s boxing blockbuster in Riyadh as Josh Padley meets Shakur Stevenson.
Schofield had been due to challenge fellow undefeated American Stevenson for the WBC lightweight world title he has held since outpointing Edwin De Los Santos in November 2023 before retaining it against Artem Harutyunyan in New Jersey last summer.
