By Edward Chaykovsky
IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud wants a crack at the winner of the upcoming fight between WBC champion Bernard Hopkins and his mandatory challenger Chad Dawson. Negotiations for Hopkins-Dawson are going well and an HBO televised date could be secured by next week. Cloud is making a mandatory defense of his own, on June 25 against Yusaf Mack.
Cloud was a very interested party as he watched Hopkins, 46, make history last Saturday night by defeating Jean Pascal in Montreal to become the oldest man to ever win a major world championship.
"You've got to give credit to Bernard Hopkins for being 46 years old and still being able to perform at the level he performed," Cloud told the Tallahassee Democrat. "Pascal just played into his hands and let Bernard get into his head."
The paper reports that negotiations for Hopkins-Dawson are in their final stages and a deal will be reached very soon. Cloud wants the winner but in order to get the winner he needs to be impressive against Mack.
"We've got to stay focused on what's in front of us. We can't take anybody lightly. I feel that anybody that's coming to challenge my title is dangerous," Cloud continued. "I know (Mack) had a couple shots at the title so I'm looking at him as a threat. I'm going in there to take him out."