Tavoris Cloud and the light-heavyweights
There may not be a great deal going on in the unlimited weight division these days, but things with their trimmer brethren down in the light-heavyweight class are certainly hotting up.
The name on many people’s lips is Tavoris Cloud. The American beat Jamaican warhorse Glen Johnson on the undercard of the Devon Alexander v Andrey Kotelnik clash on Saturday night.
Cloud takes his record to 21-0-0 with 18 KO’s and currently holds the IBF title. He fought arguably the toughest fight of life against Johnson, even at 41 years of age “Road Warrior” still has an impressive amount of ability. Both men jabbed well and it meant for a very even contest, and like the Alexander/Kotelnik showpiece, the end result was contentious.
Also paralleling the clash of the light-welterweights was the score line of 116-112 across the board, despite most pundits and spectators suggesting a much tighter contest.
Johnson was countering well to Cloud’s attacks and halfway through most had it at three rounds a piece. Both fighters stepped up their game with Cloud edging it going into the last and Road Warrior’s corner telling him to go for the KO, yet he couldn’t find that destructive punch. On the surface Cloud certainly threw more punches but the solid Johnson ate a lot up in his gloves perhaps the judges weren’t taking this ringsmanship into account. It was another war from Johnson and although the younger man probably did shade it, the cards didn’t give the veteran a fair shake.
As for Cloud it was a sturdy performance and he showed he can deal with someone who has fought at the top level for years. It would have been a great learning experience for the youngster and he would have been pleased to come away with his unblemished record still intact.
The light-heavyweight division is one to keep an eye on. Not long ago there was not a lot happening in this weight class and it is often just a stopping ground before fighters pump themselves up for a shot at the heavyweight division.
Cloud has to continue to raise the standard of his opposition as there is so much quality knocking about right now.
There is a host of young promising unbeaten fighters such as Welshman Nathan Cleverly, Karo Murat, Zsolt Erdei and Chad Dawson. That’s not even taking into account WBO title holder Jürgen Brähmer, Chris Henry, Kazakh WBA champion Beibut Shumenov and of course WBC belt holder Jean Pascal. On top of that you have wily veterans like Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jnr and Johnson while other talent is emerging all the time. There is no denying that light-heavyweight is one of the most competitive around right now.
Cloud will be on the lookout for his next opponent, one option maybe the winner of Dawson v Pascal in what could be the next of a series of big time fights at 168bs.
There also seems a genuine will for the best to fight the best in the light heavy’s as well, Cleverly v Murat promises to be a real doozey while Dawson v Pascal is a scintillating prospect. How nice to see the two best in a division just sort a fight and get on with it - take note Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and David Haye.
All boxing fans will have their eyes on the light-heavyweights because a storm is brewing, and there is a particularly ominous Cloud looming.
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