Floyd Schofield says he believes the referee made the right decision by stopping his fight against Tevin Farmer in the first round, to save him because he was going to finish the job by putting him on the ground last Saturday.

Lightweight contender Schofield (19-0, 13 KOs) had already knocked the former IBF super featherweight champion Farmer (33-9-1, 8 KOs) twice in the round at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. When the referee stopped the fight, Farmer looked like he was about to go down for the third time.

Final Punch Stats

Schofield: 8 of 14 punches for 57%
Farmer: 1 of 2 shots for 50%

Farmer’s Holding Strategy Fails

“In the second knockdown, he was trying to grab. That’s what we were working on because we knew Tevin was going to try to hold,” said Floyd Schofield to MillCity Boxing, discussing his first-round knockout of Tevin Farmer. “I knew if I hit him with a good shot after that, the fight might be over.

Farmer had done a lot of holding in his two previous fights against William Zepeda. That’s how he was able to go the distance with him because he was constantly tying him up to slow down his high-volume punching. Schofield had studied the fight and made sure to hit Farmer when he was reaching out to hold.

“I think the ref made a good decision to stop it because I was trying to get the finish. If he wants to go out on the ground on his shield, he has every right to feel that way. If the ref feels you’re taking punishment, it’s his decision,” said Schofield.

Farmer looked like he was about to go down again at the time of the stoppage. That would have been the third knockdown in the first round, and it would have been too much for the referee to allow without being second-guessed by fans.

Farmer’s Defensive Struggles

“I think the ref made a good decision because he was getting hit flush. I think most everything I threw, he was getting hit with. It was a good stoppage, but I respect Tevin for wanting to continue,” said Schofield.

It wasn’t just that Farmer was hurt. The main reason he was being hit nonstop by Schofield is that he was fighting with his hands down. He didn’t possess the reflexes to get out of the way of Schofield’s fast punches, and his pull back wasn’t working to help him avoid getting hit.