Shakur Stevenson breaks silence on claims his team 'poisoned' opponent as world title fight cancelled

Shakur Stevenson has responded to controversial allegations that someone poisoned his scheduled upcoming opponent Floyd Schofield Jr.

The WBC lightweight champion was due to defend his title against the unbeaten 22-year-old contender on the undercard of Daniel Dubois' hotly anticipated heavyweight title showdown with Anthony Parker in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday night.

But just days before the two fighters were due to square off, Schofield was removed from the card by the British Boxing Board of Control after he fell ill.

Schofield was taken to hospital and his father and trainer, Floyd Schofield Sr., took to the fighter's X page to make a controversial claim about what had caused his son's sudden illness.

The post, which has since been deleted, said: “They poisoned my son...Shakar massage lady wiped a cream on my son.”

Schofield Sr. has since retracted his allegation and Golden Boy, the event's promoters, moved to clarify the situation by releasing an official statement on the matter.

"Yesterday, Floyd 'Kid Austin' Schofield Jr. fell ill and was transported to the hospital as a precautionary measure," the statement began.

"In the interest of Schofield's health and safety, the British Board of Boxing Control made the decision to cancel his scheduled bout against Shakur Stevenson.

"Schofield has since been discharged from the hospital and is awaiting the results of his medical evaluation. We extend our gratitude to His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, SELA, and the medical professionals who provided Schofield with care."

And now Stevenson has responded to the claims in an interview posted to the social media accounts of Ring magazine.

"Do I believe it? Come on," Stevenson laughed. "This is my assumption of the whole situation: I think this kid was struggling to make the weight class and I feel he may have tried last minute to make the weight and he probably kinda had weight problems.

"I think that was the issue. But instead of saying it, they like to come up with all types of crazy stuff."

Stevenson will now instead face unbeaten British contender Josh Padley on Saturday night.