By Cliff Rold

Late last year, after he’d risen to the mandatory position in the IBF Light Heavyweight ratings then championed by Chad Dawson, 27-year old Tavoris Cloud (20-0, 18 KO) ran into the obstacle of anonymity.  Dawson’s promoter, Gary Shaw, stated at the time https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=16744:

“Tavoris Cloud will not be fighting Chad Dawson.  That I will guarantee you.  I wouldn’t know Tavoris Cloud, and the public wouldn’t know Tavoris Cloud, if he passed through here to get a cup of coffee in the snack bar I’m sitting at.  That’s not gonna’ happen.  Chad wants to narrow the old guys in Boxing, which means Winky Wright, Hopkins, Calzaghe and Roy Jones, and clear the way for the young guys (the press) should be concentrating on.  They are the future of Boxing, which means Dawson, Andre Dirrell, Andre Berto.  They’re the future of Boxing and that’s what Boxing needs; young, new bright faces rather than keep bringing back the old guys.”

Times can change.  They probably haven’t yet but such change could be fast approaching.  After Friday night, Cloud proved worthy of a look at Starbucks and worthy of anyone’s concentration.  He also may have planted a significant seed towards a showdown worth waiting for sometime in the next year to year and a half.

Let’s go to the report card.

Grades

Pre-Fight: Speed - Woods B; Cloud B/Post: B; B+
Pre-Fight: Power - Woods C; Cloud A/Post: C/B+
Pre-Fight: Defense - Woods B; Cloud B/Post: B- for Both
Pre-Fight: Intangibles - Woods A; Cloud B/Post: A for Both

Pegged as one of the fights of the month going in, Cloud-Woods met the billing with twelve hard fought and fast paced frames.  While it didn’t feature the multiple knockdowns of the main event (more below), the showdown for the vacant IBF Light Heavyweight belt showed tremendous skill, veteran moxy, and determination from both men.

Over the course of the bout, it became clear Cloud’s speed had been underestimated.  While he sometimes pawed with the jab, his combinations were crisp and quick and Cloud did a good job getting through the holes former titlist Clinton Woods gave him.  In the eighth and tenth rounds, he blasted through with lefts and rights upstairs, hurting Woods badly in the former even if the Brit refused to fall.  The 37-year old Woods (42-5-1, 24 KO) gets credit for making it a serious fight before then, using a snapping jab and turning over quick left hooks and short uppercuts to test Cloud like the younger man had never been tested before.

If Woods had a bit more pop, who knows what might have been.  One question which arises after Friday, and Cloud’s last outing against Julio Gonzalez, is whether his stats might be slightly better than his own power at this point.  He’s landed, a lot, in both of his last two fights and neither bout produced any sort of highlight reel ending.  A wise observer would note that both his last two foes are former champions with good beards; they might also note that steps up in competition can tell the difference between a good puncher and a nuclear one.  Cloud may be only the former.  It’s not a slight and Cloud shows extra dimensions at this next level. 

The volume of shots he got off on Friday night made it all the more fun.  Not many heavy handed guys also bring it non-stop.  It makes Cloud, who is still developing his game to some extent, more compelling.  He’s showing he can win more than one way.  He also showed some defensive liability.  At fight’s end, both eyes were puffy and he was bloodied.  He looked like he’d been in a fight because he had, caught numerous times as the cost to get his own offense in.  There are others at Light Heavyweight who can do more to exploit those holes and he’ll need to shore them up.  Woods did a good job limit in the damage after he’d been stunned but took a lot of punishment on the night.  As has been the case his whole career, his heart and chin carried him through.

Even in his lone stoppage loss, to a still-prime Roy Jones Jr., Woods finished on his feet.  ESPN’s Teddy Atlas stated Woods hadn’t ‘traveled well’ in his career.  However, his travels have been for Jones, Antonio Tarver, and now Cloud.  He wouldn’t have won those fights in the U.K. either.  That he traveled for them, and gave his all just as he has at home against the likes of Gonzalez and Glen Johnson, speaks to why he has earned his respect. 

Cloud earns more respect as well.  With over a year off before this fight, he stepped in with the best foe of his career and didn’t miss a beat.  So far, bigger moments haven’t intimidated him.  It’s good to know because the moments will not get smaller from here.

Looking Ahead

For Woods, the time may be upon him to think of hanging them up.  At 37, it isn’t going to get any easier and another title shot could be hard to come by unless someone like WBA titlist Gabriel Campillo (19-2, 6 KO) or WBO titlist Zsolt Erdei (30-0, 17 KO) is looking for a foe with a respected name. 

For Cloud, the sky might well be the limit.  He emerges in a Light Heavyweight field getting ever younger with some solid veterans around to make bones against.  He joins 26-year old WBC titlist Jean Pascal (23-1, 15 KO) and the 27-year old Dawson (28-0, 17 KO) in a trio of physically prime battlers who have all proven to make good fights.  Pascal brings with him the wild and vibrant Canadian fan base and he and Cloud could be a savage battle. 

Dawson is quickly emerging as one of HBO’s men of tomorrow and Dawson-Cloud could be it’s superfight for the future.  It was wise of Dawson’s camp to look away from Cloud as a mandatory.  The evidence is clear; Cloud is a threat.  The realest threats should get every dollar they’re worth.  If both keep winning, Dawson-Cloud has the look of the sort of encounter which could be worth at least 49.95 of those dollars some day.

In the meantime, Tallahassee’s Cloud can build his side of the bargain with a range of foes in Florida alone.  Fellow Floridians, faded but still viable, Antonio Tarver and Roy Jones are still around and could be big business around the state along with big resume boosters.  Tough outs like Chris Henry (24-2, 19 KO) and Yusuf Mack (28-2-2, 17 KO) would make for wars which built more blood lust bona fides.  Notably, Mack might be the highest rated foe available in the IBF ratings, at #6, given the plans of others ahead of him.

Let the countdown begin now to any combination of Dawson, Pascal, and Cloud in the ring together…and let the drumbeat those fights will need to become reality begin its sounding. 

Report Card Extra

It would be unfair not to mention the main event on Friday as well.  It went longer than expected and the credit goes to a game effort from veteran former Jr. Welterweight titlist Randall Bailey (39-6, 35 KO).  In what might well have been his last title shot, he had IBF beltholder Juan Urango (21-2-1, 16 KO) on the floor in the sixth.

Urango got up though and that was more than Bailey could overcome, three knockdowns over the next four rounds leading to Bailey’s corner stopping the bout in eleven.  His legs have looked shaky for a long time and it was the stems, more than the chin, which failed the aging banger.  Regardless, it was great theatre while it lasted.  At the end, his head sunken into the corner, a lady in his life other could be seen looking at him with sadness, one hand touching Bailey’s shoulder.  It was a touching reminder that, most nights, only one can go home a winner and defeat is can often be just as much the story.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com