Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela wants a crack at Floyd Schofield’s newly won WBA lightweight belt, yet business barriers give the champion little reason to grant a voluntary defense.

“@KidAustin11 let’s make it happen!” Valenzuela posted on X, a public challenge spotlighted by Ring Magazine.

Holding the No. 3 ranking with the WBA keeps Valenzuela in the title picture. It does not give him mandatory status, nor does it force Schofield to pick him.

Promotional and broadcast divisions form the real wall here. Valenzuela operates under the Zuffa banner on Paramount+, whereas Schofield fights for Golden Boy on DAZN. Finalizing a matchup requires cooperation across competing networks.

The bout lacks the massive box office pull needed to warrant a joint broadcast. A viable path would demand that one promoter let their fighter appear on rival airwaves, an unlikely concession for an optional defense.

Schofield took the vacant strap against Lucas Bahdi in Chicago on October 10. Holding the gold affords Golden Boy the luxury of handpicking far simpler matchups.

Valenzuela offers elite pedigree as a former 140-pound champion, paired with a tricky southpaw stance capable of testing the young titleholder. A victory over Rayo looks solid on paper, yet it delivers no extra hardware. Without a massive paycheck attached, the ring danger offers limited reward.

Valenzuela needs the sanctioning body in his corner. An official WBA mandatory order would ignite real negotiations instead of a digital callout the champion can safely ignore.

For now, Rayo is asking Schofield to take on a dangerous night with zero promotional upside. Posting on social media costs nothing; handing Golden Boy a financial incentive to say yes is another story entirely.

A voluntary defense across rival platforms only happens when enormous pots of cash force everyone to play nice. Paramount+ wants exclusive programming for Zuffa. DAZN guards its stable for Golden Boy. Neither network gains anything by lending talent without a massive pay-per-view haul to split.

Without Riyadh bankrolling the difference, the financial math completely falls apart. Oscar De La Hoya already mentioned keeping Schofield busy with William Zepeda in-house, or waiting on Gervonta Davis. Those routes keep every dollar inside their own broadcast tent. Taking on Rayo brings serious ring danger for ordinary television money.

Valenzuela is a heavy-handed southpaw capable of cracking anyone. Schofield touched the canvas against Lucas Bahdi in the eleventh round, so putting him in with Rayo right away makes zero sense for Golden Boy.

Unless the WBA forces a purse bid down the road, expect Golden Boy to completely ignore the callout.

Shakur Stevenson is regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, but one reigning world champion believes the Newark southpaw is ‘terrified’ of him.

Stevenson looked to be a level above Teofimo Lopez when they collided back in January, as Stevenson became the third-youngest four-division world champion in the rich history of the sport.

However, the unbeaten superstar is yet to fight since, despite informing O’Shaquie Foster that he could get his shot if able to defend his WBC super-featherweight world title against good friend, Raymond Ford, back in May.

Foster claimed a majority decision win to continue his second 130lb title reignbut talks for a clash between he and Stevenson then went quiet as the latter signed with Zuffa Boxing, whilst Foster eventually moved on to a three-belt unification with Emanuel Navarrete.

Speaking to Fight Hub TVFoster fumed at Stevenson for going back on his word and declared his belief that the 29-year-old is ‘terrified’ of him.

“I think that he is terrified of me and I think that he hopes that somebody else beats me so that he won’t have to ever fight me. He said it on Twitter, after Lamont [Roach] fought he was talking about ‘it is your time coming, I can’t wait to clown you on it.’ He is goofy.

“He is hoping that somebody else beats me, that is why he was hoping Ray Ford beat me, so that he can chat about it online instead of hopping in there himself with me.

“I am not a bully, but real guys know real guys. You sons, your mans, I beat ‘em up, why you ain’t trying to fight now?”

Navarrete-Foster takes place on Saturday, October 24, where ‘Ice Water’ could inch closer to becoming the first undisputed super-featherweight world champion since Hiroshi Kobayashi in 1969; a feat which Vasiliy Lomachenko is also trying to achieve.

Canelo Alvarez spends some time talking to Mike Coppinger on behalf of Ring Magazine about this state of his career, his October 31 title fight with Christian Mbilliwanting a rematch with Terence Crawfordand more. Read some excerpts from Canelo below with the full video in the link at the bottom.

“He’s a champion and he’s a very aggressive fighter. He go forward, throws a lot of punches and that make me excited because it’s good styles to make a good fight. Could be Fight of the Year.”

On why the fight was delayed from September

“Because I wasn’t ready. I have a little bit of problems with the family I need to fix and everything. And I like to have a pre-camp and then come to the training camp, so that’s why I postponed that fight because I learned from the past, you know…At this level [there’s a tiny margin for error] between win or lose.”

On what motivates him at this stage of his career

“I love boxing. Sometimes I try to say ‘why am I here if I accomplish everything?’ but I love boxing. That’s why I’m here, because I still love boxing and I enjoy it a lot.”

On a rematch with Crawford

“I hope so. If you realize that I always did good in my rematches. So, I always do good in the rematch so I hope that fight happens again…I just try to learn how much I can from the loss and from the other fights and get better, learn more and do better in the ring.

“[I’ve rewatched the Crawford fight] like five times, and it was very close. It’s not that much [that separates us]. But, yeah, it’s very [fine line between winning and losing] but I know what happened and I know my mistakes, and plus Crawford is a great fighter and you need to be 100%.”