SAN ANTONIO – Floyd Schofield didn’t want to think about the severity of the first major cut he suffered as a pro.

The stream of blood that flowed down the left side of his face told the 20-year-old lightweight all he needed—and wanted—to know. An errant headbutt by Haskell Lydell Rhodes left Schofield with a bad cut under his left eye late in the ninth round of his DAZN-aired shutout win Saturday from AT&T Center in San Antonio.

The makeshift main event took place 90 minutes from Schofield’s Austin hometown and there was no way he was going to panic or settle for a win in an injury-shortened bout. Nor was he interested in seeing the cause of the pain he could already feel from the drip of the blood, which he licked and grinned as he stared down his opponent.

“I got to face adversity for the first time as a pro,” Schofield said during the post-fight press conference after his 15th win in as many pro fights. “It’s boxing. It’s my first cut. You still got to fight through it. If you don’t, you in the wrong sport. I’m not gonna quit just because I got a cut.

“I intentionally didn’t look up at the [jumbotron]. I knew how bad it was because I could feel the blood. So, I didn’t look up because I didn’t want to see how big it was. It’s just boxing. You just have to fight through it.”

Schofield (15-0, 11KOs) won every round to that point and floored Rhodes (28-5-1, 13KOs) three times—twice in round seven and once in the eighth. The severity of the cut, however, was enough for referee James Green to call time prior to the start of the tenth and final round.

“I told the ref, ‘Don’t stop this fight,’” Schofield revealed of his mindset at that moment. “He told me, ‘I’m not, I’m just taking you to the doctor.’ So, then I told the doctor, ‘Don’t stop this fight.’”

The ringside physician obliged, immediately after which Schofield raised his arms in the air to ignite the crowd of roughly 2,500 that turned out despite the loss of the evening’s originally scheduled main event. Schofield-Rhodes was bumped up to the top spot after Vergil Ortiz Jr. (19-0, 19KOs) was hospitalized late in fight week and had to withdraw from his challenge of WBA ‘Regular’ welterweight titlist Eimantas Stanionis (14-0, 9KOs; 1ND).

Schofield did his best to put on a show and even put away Rhodes.

“He could take a punch. I give him credit for that. I thought he was gone after the first knockdown. He got back up and went all ten rounds. He gave it his all and I take my hat off to him.

“I gotta get back to the drawing board. There’s stuff I gotta work on. I think I shocked myself when I was able to still fight on after that cut. I switched up the gameplan and got the job done.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox