Schofield Passes the Test (Mostly)

OK, another fight week in Chicago is in the books, and Floyd Schofield finally has some hardware. He had to answer a lot of questions to get it.

Saturday night at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Schofield (20-0, 13 KOs) won the vacant WBA lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Lucas Bahdi (20-1, 15 KOs), MVP's previously unbeaten Canadian. The judges had it 116-110, 119-108 and 115-111. Schofield dropped Bahdi in the third. Bahdi returned the favor in the 11th.

So yeah, 'Kid Austin' is a titlist now. He earned it, too.

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The promoters' release says Schofield used "superior speed, movement and sharp combinations" to control much of the action, which is fair. It also says Bahdi "remained dangerous throughout," which is promoter-speak for "this got hairy a few times." Bahdi came in at 134 on Friday, a pound under Schofield, and he fought like a guy who'd been waiting 20 fights for this exact chance.

Now, about that 119-108 card.

Do the math. Bahdi got an 8 in the round he was dropped, so that card gives him exactly one round. One. In a fight where he put the winner on the canvas. Schofield won, and I don't have a problem with that. But one of those cards had me looking for my reading glasses (and I need them more every year anyway).

Here's what I liked: two undefeated lightweights got in with each other, on a Golden Boy show in co-promotion with MVP, live on DAZN. One of those zeros had to go. At the final press conference, Oscar De La Hoya said, "The best have to fight the best... We don't take the easy fights," according to a release from the promoters.

Noted, Oscar. I'm holding onto that one.

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Britton Hardin, DAZN's head of U.S. boxing (and a Chicago guy), thanked De La Hoya at that same presser for "bringing big-time boxing back to the city," per the promoters. Tickets ran from $30 to $300 before fees. That's a real fight in a real fight town, at prices a normal person can kinda live with. Last I checked, that mattered.

And here's the little thing that tickled me. MVP's own boilerplate at the bottom of the results release brags about partnerships with Netflix, ESPN and Sky Sports. The fight streamed on DAZN. That's the boxing business in 2026. Everybody's dating everybody.

A funny thing about that release, too. It has quotes from the co-feature winner and half the undercard. Not a word from the guy who won the main event. Or the guy who lost it.

Before the fight, Schofield kept it simple. "This fight is for my pops," he said at the final press conference, per the promoters. He also said his life "changes a lot," and not just his. Now we find out how much.

So what's next at 135? The WBA strap was vacant going in (how belts get vacated is a column for another day). Does Golden Boy keep him busy, or do we get the usual six-month wait? Is there a rematch, given how much Bahdi landed? MVP has its own lightweight on the way, too. Olympian Jahmal Harvey (5-0, 4 KOs) said at the presser that the world-title goal "could start tomorrow." Easy, kid. You're 5-0.

THE FLYWEIGHT PARTY CRASHER

The co-feature might have been the better story. Sergio 'Yoreme' Mendoza (28-1, 24 KOs) of Hermosillo took the WBA and WBC flyweight titles from Ricardo 'El Niño' Sandoval (27-3, 18 KOs) of Rialto with a fifth-round TKO. Mendoza dropped him twice in the second and a third time in the fifth. Sandoval got up, but the referee had seen enough.

It was Sandoval's first defense of the belts. At the presser, he talked about his mom flying on a plane for the first time to watch him. This sport is cruel sometimes.

"The difference tonight was being at my natural weight of 112," Mendoza said in a statement released by the promoters. (He weighed 111.4 on Friday. I'll take his word on the "natural" part.) The co-feature was presented by Golden Boy and BXSTRS Promotions.

FINAL FLURRIES

Harvey stopped Pedro Castaneda (9-2-1, 5 KOs) at 1:08 of the third with a left hand. "I love fighting in the pros, much easier to get knockouts," he said, per the promoters. (Every amateur judge he ever fought in front of just nodded)... Jan Paul Rivera (17-0, 7 KOs) of Salinas, Puerto Rico, dropped Abraham Perfecto Valdez in the second and won 99-89 on all three cards at 130... Chicago's own Cristian Williams went to 15-0 with a decision over Asa Stevens. The release lists the cards as 74-78, 74-78 and 75-77 "in favor of Williams." Somebody was proofreading on deadline too...

'Kid Austin' has the belt. Now let's see if he stays busy with it.

Sources: results, weigh-in and final press conference releases from Golden Boy Promotions / Most Valuable Promotions. All quotes are from those releases.