Jose \u201cRayo\u201d Valenzuela believes Floyd Schofield\u2019s camp is looking for a way around him, with the new WBA lightweight champion\u2019s father calling for an Abdullah Mason unification in Texas early next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere we go .. they\u2019re running the other way,\u201d Valenzuela posted on X<\/a> in response to the Mason callout.<\/p>\n Rayo has been seeking a shot at Schofield, but he may be out of luck if he expects the WBA to force the fight. His public request for the organization to intervene is not the same as an order requiring Schofield to face him.<\/p>\n Schofield Sr. offered Mason a January or February date during an interview with BandsNBoxing.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want a fight, y\u2019all can run it next,\u201d he said. \u201cSend the contract. Tell your bosses to send the contract to Golden Boy. Let\u2019s make it happen then.\u201d<\/p>\n He proposed San Antonio or Austin, Texas, adding: \u201cY\u2019all already know it\u2019s two belts on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n That second belt gives Mason something Rayo cannot offer. Mason has also shown enough vulnerability to make him a target for Schofield\u2019s camp. They may see a chance to collect the WBO title against a talented young champion whose defensive flaws offer openings.<\/p>\n Rayo falls into the \u201cwho needs him?\u201d club: a former champion capable of spoiling plans without bringing another lightweight belt. Beating him would satisfy a challenger. Beating Mason would make Schofield a unified champion.<\/p>\n Schofield had enough trouble getting past Lucas Bahdi in his last fight to make another difficult assignment worth considering carefully. He won, but the performance hardly suggested he could take an opponent like Valenzuela lightly.<\/p>\n Rayo\u2019s accusation puts that choice in public view. Whether it gets him any closer to a title shot depends on the WBA. If the organization approves a Mason unification, calling Schofield out may be all Valenzuela can do while the two champions pursue each other.<\/p>\n Share this article<\/p>\n About the authorBoxing 24\/7 Wire<\/p>\n Boxing247.com is an independent boxing news publication covering the sport since 2001. It provides original reporting, fight analysis, schedules, results, and informed coverage of major fighters and events worldwide, backed by more than 25 years of professional boxing journalism.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Boxing<\/a> \u2022 Boxing News<\/a> \u2022 Rayo Valenzuela Accuses Floyd Schofield of Avoiding Him<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jose \u201cRayo\u201d Valenzuela believes Floyd Schofield\u2019s camp is looking for a way around him, with the new WBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-934639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}