Floyd Schofield will attempt to solidify his standing as one of the best prospects in boxing in his upcoming fight.

The unbeaten lightweight prospect will fight Haskell Rhodes on July 8, Golden Boy Promotions announced Thursday afternoon. The 10-round bout will take place at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas and will precede the main event bout between unbeaten welterweight contenders Eimantas Stanionis and Vergil Ortiz, Jr.

Both fights will stream live on DAZN (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT).

The fight against Rhodes will be a homecoming of sorts for Schofield (14-0, 11 knockouts), who will return to action in his home state for the first time since August 8, which ironically, was also headlined by Ortiz. Schofield resides in Austin, about a 90-minute drive from San Antonio. 

In his last bout on April 22, which took place on the undercard of the Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis-Ryan Garcia fight, Schofield knocked out fringe contender and once-beaten Jesus Valentin Leon in the second round. The win over Leon took place less than three months after Schofield defeated Alberto Mercado by decision over 10 one-sided rounds.

The 20-year-old is co-promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Davies Entertainment.

Rhodes (28-4-1, 13 KOs), who resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, returned to action on March 18 from a three and a half year layoff to defeat journeyman Raymond Chacon by decision in his hometown of Oklahoma City. 

The 35-year-old has lost to former world titleholder Jason Sosa, Sergey Lipinets, and Omar Douglas.

Also on the Golden Boy Promotions card that will be streamed live on DAZN, Ring Magazine Female flyweight champion and unified world titleholder Marlen Esparza will square off against WBO world titleholder Gabriela Alaniz in a 10-round unification bout. 

Alaniz is ranked No. 2 by The Ring at 112 pounds in the Female rankings.

Esparza (13-1, 1 KO), who resides in Houston, was scheduled to face Alaniz on April 29 on the undercard of the William Zepeda-Jaime Arboleda lightweight fight in suburban Dallas, but the fight was postponed due to visa issues that prevented Alaniz from entering the country. Boxingscene was the first to report the story.

The 33-year-old last fought on August 6, defeating Eva Guzman by unanimous decision in an all-out war. Esparza, a 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist, has won her last six fights since losing to Ring Magazine strawweight champion Seniesa Estrada in November 2019.

Alaniz (14-0, 6 KOs), who resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina, stopped Debora Rengifo in the ninth round of her last bout on September 24. The 26-year-old has stopped five of her last seven bouts. 

In the opening bout, Joseph Diaz, Jr. (32-4-1, 15 KOs), the former IBF world junior lightweight titleholder from El Monte, California, will face an opponent to be determined in a 10-round lightweight bout. 

The 30-year-old Diaz lost to Mercito Gesta by split-decision in his last bout on March 18. He recently re-signed a promotional deal with Golden Boy Promotions.

In preliminary action, junior middleweight Eric Tudor (8-0, 6 KOs) of Fort Lauderdale, Florida will square off against Michigan’s Reggie Harris, Jr. (7-3, 3 KOs) in an eight-round bout. Tristan Kalkreuth (10-1, 7 KOs) of Duncansville, Texas will face Mexico’s Jaime Solorio (12-5-2, 9 KOs) in a six-round cruiserweight bout. In light heavyweight action, Houston’s Darius Fulghum (5-0, 5 KOs) will square off against Ricardo Medina (1-4) of San Antonio in a four-round bout. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

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