Don King works on 17 December card
Famous promoter Don King is reportedly working on a card that will feature 2004 Cuban Olympic gold medallist Odlanier Solis (16-0, 12 KOs) and Ray Austin (28-4, 18 KOs), the winner of which will become
the mandatory challenger for the winner of Vitali Klitschko-Shannon Briggs this Saturday.
The card is being planned for 17 December, and is expected to take place at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida.
A co-featuring bout would exhibit Floridan light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud, who is coming off an action-packed, one-sided decision of Glen Johnson back in August. Though no opponent has been
confirmed, Cloud’s trainer Al Bonani told ESPN.com that King was in the midst of negotiating with two contenders.
"Don is negotiating the price with both fighters so by Monday, maybe Friday, we should have somebody," Bonani clarified.
Bonani acknowledged that Cloud (21-0, 18 KOs), the IBF champion, would be willing to accept less than usual purse minimums for the fight just to remain active. Cloud fought once in 2009, a full year after
a 2008 bout, and has only defended his title once in 2010.
"He just wants to fight in his home state and stay busy," Bonani said. “He wants to fight regularly. We'd like to have this fight and keep busy. He's in the gym. We want to keep him sharp and also take
this fight to have some Christmas money."
At least he’s honest.
Though there has also been talk about Cloud taking on contender Chad Dawson on HBO in the near future, Bonani confirmed that it’s just one possibility for Cloud. A fight of that magnitude would undoubtedly
take longer to agree on for both fighters.
"We're interested, but it's not on the top of the list," Bonani admitted. "We have possible unification fights and fights overseas. But Dawson is an interesting match. We're interested, but we've also
been offered [former titlist] Adrian Diaconu in Canada on a [Lucian] Bute card. We've talked about Bute. A unification with [Beibut Shumenov] would be huge money in Kazakhstan and that's been discussed. But I am glad HBO is considering putting Tavoris back
on. The kid is ready to fight the best."
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