Floyd Schofield vs. Lucas Bahdi, Ricardo Sandoval and Misfits mishaps: 5 things for the boxing weekend

If Ben Whittaker running out of gas en route to an underwhelming decision victory over Conor Wallace, and a two-round Omari Jones blow-out aren’t quite what you’re looking for this month, then fear not: This weekend the wheels begin to turn before we hit a high-speed run into the winter months.

Over the next few days we’re able to offer up the eclectic mix of a WBA lightweight title fight, a two-belt unification defense at flyweight and another peep into the Misfits circus, as British personalities Joey Essex and Dapper Laughs attempt to throw it down in London.

Let’s check in on the top five things to watch this weekend in boxing.

Floyd Schofield’s luck could change this weekend.

The 24-year-old is a very promising talent in the lightweight division, running to a 19-0 (13 KOs) record since turning pro in 2020, but has yet to break out to a wider audience following two high-profile cancelled fights.

First it was the Saudi Arabia “mystery illness” incident of February 2025, where he was due to mix it with Shakur Stevenson on the heavily stacked Beterbiev-Bivol 2 card. Then, later in the year, a wrist injury scuppered a clash with JoJo Diaz, meaning a 78-second win over Tevin Farmer last June is all we’ve seen of “Kid Austin” in what will be 707 days. 

Unbeaten Canadian Lucas Bahdi (20-0, 15 KOs) is the man standing between Schofield and the vacant WBA lightweight title (formerly owned by Gervonta “Tank” Davis), and it’s safe to say the brash American is overlooking the chances of his opponent.

“I hate trash-talking, and I’m not really a trash-talker, but I’ve been studying him non-stop, and there’s nothing that I see that he can bring to the table that I haven’t seen before,” Schofield told The Ring. “And that’s no offense Bahdi. He seems like a good fighter and a great dude, and it’s nothing personal, but I think my sparring partners are better than he is.”

The proof will be in the pudding inside Chicago’s Wintrust Arena, as Schofield eyes becoming one of the youngest current champions in the sport.

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Floyd Schofield (L) and Lucas Bahdi face off as Oscar De La Hoya looks on prior to their WBA lightweight world championship fight.

It wasn’t supposed to be Sergio Mendoza in the opposite corner to Ricardo Sandoval this weekend.

The Californian, Sandoval (27-2, 18 KOs), had lined up Oscar Collazo for the first defense of his unified WBC and WBA titles at 112 pounds, until the exciting, unbeaten Puerto Rican was forced to withdraw with a rib injury mid-September.

Collazo’s loss is Mendoza’s (27-1, 23 KOs) gain, as the southpaw heads to the Schofield-Bahdi undercard, fighting outside of his native Mexico for only the second time.

Sandoval should, by all accounts, make light work of Mendoza here, building on a fantastic upset victory over Kenshiro Teraji last July, which saw him crowned as a world champion for the first time. 

And if Team Collazo is to be taken at face value, then a future meeting with the former world champion at 105 pounds should come next in a division where the biggest fights shouldn’t be left to marinate. 

I’ll try and keep this one short and as sweet as possible.

Those lovable scruffs Misfits are back this weekend, bringing a show to London’s Copper Box Arena under the shadow of West Ham United’s soccer stadium.

“Haven’t the locals suffered enough?” someone hilariously witty might suggest, as the “Hammers” languish in the second tier of English soccer, and now face a headline event of “Essex vs. Dapper” in the neighboring arena.

The protagonists in question are Joey Essex, a reality TV “star” from British shores who found fame thanks to the long-running series “The Only Way is Essex” and has since gone onto appear in anything and everything on television that offers him a paycheck, and Dapper Laughs, real name Daniel O’Reilly, a social media comedian who tells jokes in an attempt to get “cancelled” and then claims to have been “cancelled,” so then goes on a comedy tour about being “cancelled.” 

All while, you guessed it, not being “cancelled” at all, but rather “platformed.”

The 42-year-old takes on Essex at super middleweight, if that’s important, on a card that also features Misfits favorites Swarmz, Big Stacks and Jordan McCann.

We’re heading east to Ekaterinburg on Saturday as the WBA continue to keep up appearances in Russia.

Heading up this event inside the RCC Boxing Academy is Khariton Agrba’s defense of his WBA interim title at 140 pounds, facing off against compatriot and well-ranked Zaur Abdullaev (21-2, 13 KOs).

Abdullaev, 32, is up a weight following his unanimous decision loss to Raymond Muratalla in May last year, in which he challenged for the IBF’s interim title at lightweight.

Now at super lightweight following a bounce-up win over Hugo Roldan, Abdullaev faces southpaw Agrba (17-1, 9 KOs), who claimed the WBA strap after avenging the only loss on his slate to hard-hitting Argentinean Ruben Munoz in December.

You might struggle to catch a live feed here, but BoxRec are certainly giving it some hype. Curiously, this fight has been given a five-star rating!

You’ve all been asking where the next great American heavyweight is, right? Well, Houston’s Joshua Edwards (7-0, 6 KOs) could well turn out to be just that.

“The Rocket” is just 26 and being moved nicely by Golden Boy Promotions, blitzing his way through a raft of American club fights after turning pro in April last year.

Edwards enjoyed a gold medal run as an amateur at the 2023 Pan American Games, but had some of the wind taken out of his sails in dropping a Round of 16 loss to Italy’s Diego Lenzi at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.

Yet life as a pro is going swimmingly so far, and his eighth opponent is Detroit’s Craig Lewis (15-9-1, 8 KOs) somewhere down the Schofield-Bahdi card. Lewis has lost by stoppage in his past two outings, and at age 42 is clearly struggling with his constantly-questioned punch resistance.

But everyone loves a heavyweight throwdown, and this one could be fun for as long as it lasts.