Floyd Schofield III is a world champion.
The 20-0 lightweight outworked Lucas Bahdi over 12 rounds Saturday night at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, taking a unanimous decision — 115-111, 116-110, and 119-108 — to claim the vacant WBA lightweight belt, the first major title of his career. It was his first fight in 469 days.
How it happened
Schofield banked the early rounds behind his jab and footwork, darting in with combinations and sliding out before Bahdi could answer. The breakthrough came in the third: a left hook dumped Bahdi into the ropes for the fight’s first knockdown, and Schofield nearly closed the show before the bell saved the Canadian.
Bahdi (20-1, 15 KOs) refused to go quietly. He found his range in the middle rounds, and the sixth turned into the fight of the night — both men hurt, with Bahdi badly rocking Schofield before the American fired back to steady himself.
Controversy followed. In the ninth, a Bahdi right hand buckled Schofield’s knee to the canvas and no knockdown was called. In the eleventh, Bahdi got credit for a knockdown even as their feet tangled on the way down. Schofield stayed disciplined through it, boxing and moving over the final round to hear the final bell.
The scorecards
The right man won, but the 119-108 card raised eyebrows — that’s 11 rounds to 1 in a fight where Bahdi clearly took his share of the middle rounds. Most observers had it comfortably but competitively for Schofield, somewhere in the 116-110 range.
Numbers and notes
CompuBox had Schofield landing 10 of 30 punches per round (37%), while Bahdi threw just 26 per round — activity was the story of the fight. Schofield moved to 20-0 with 13 knockouts; Bahdi suffers his first defeat.
The win didn’t come without prefight drama: Schofield missed weight on his first attempt Friday before making the 135-pound limit on his second try. Bahdi weighed in at 134.
After the final bell, Schofield didn’t call out any names. He said he wants to enjoy the moment — and he’s about to become a father again.
What’s next
A first title defense will tell us plenty. Schofield showed championship poise in deep water, but the wide cards shouldn’t hide the openings Bahdi found — especially in the sixth. The lightweight division has sharks, and the next one won’t let him off the hook as often.
Sources: Bad Left Hook, BoxingNews24, Boxing247, FightsATW, FightMag. Scores and CompuBox via fight-night coverage.
