Shakur Stevenson’s last-minute opponent reveals his day job and his boss’ reaction to missing work to fight for WBC title: “Started out a normal week"

Shakur Stevenson will face off against Josh Padley as part of a stacked 'Last Crescendo' boxing card headlined by a thrilling rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. The card will take place on Feb. 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Stevenson was initially scheduled to defend his WBC lightweight title against Floyd Schofield. However, the title challenger was pulled out of the fight by the British Boxing Board of Control on Feb. 19 due to illness and inadvertently proved the WBC champion's pre-fight prediction to be correct.

Padley, who holds a 15-0 record, has a day job where he lives in England. During a recent interview with Fight Hub TV, he discussed his day job, as well as his boss' reaction to having to take time off of work on short notice to fight on the biggest boxing card of all time.

He said:

"My week started out as just a normal week, Monday, Tuesday. I do have a day job installing solar panels, crawling through lofts and putting cables here and there. Tuesday night, 6 o'clock, the phone rang. Obviously my manager was like, 'Matchroom [Boxing] have been on and there's a life-changing opportunity here for you. What's your weight?'"

He continued:

"I text my boss, who I'd actually got two jobs booked in for that day, saying, 'Hey mate, important. It's happened again.' He says, 'My job's aren't getting done today, are they?' I said, 'No, not today.' He's a big boxing fan himself so he said, 'When opportunities like that [come], if I were in your shoes I'd do the same.'"

Watch Josh Padley discuss the build-up to facing Shakur Stevenson below (0:35):

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Shakur Stevenson's promoter fires back at Floyd Schofield's accusations of poisoning

Shakur Stevenson's original opponent for his WBC lightweight title fight on the 'Last Crescendo' has taken to accusing him of poisoning. Floyd Schofield was admitted to hospital on Feb. 19, which culminated in his removal from his scheduled clash.

But the accusations of poisoning he laid against Stevenson have left the boxing world, including the WBC champion's promoter Eddie Hearn, scratching their heads.

Hearn responded to the accusations during a recent interview with iFL TV, saying:

"The whole thing is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen... This guy never turned up to the press conference in London because he said something like Shakur Stevenson broke into his apartment and ripped out his signature page on his passport... They checked themselves into hospital, said they'd been poisoned and was sprawled out on a hospital bed."

Check out Eddie Hearns' comments below (2:15):