By Ryan Burton
IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris "Thunder" Cloud appeared on the most recent edition of The Boxing Lab, BoxingScene.com's official audio show. Cloud made no secret of his desire to face WBC and Ring champion Bernard Hopkins. He feels that Hopkins wins his fights by winning the mental part of the fight. Cloud is confident that Hopkin's tactics wouldn't work on him if they were to meet in the ring.
"I want Hopkins. He's the oldest man out there. He gets in there head. I don't think its so much a skill or experience issue. I don't think they know how to handle guys like Hopkins," Cloud told The Boxing Lab.
Cloud feels that Hopkins will beat Chad Dawson next Saturday in their pay-per-view showdown. He also revealed that he will be rooting for Hopkins and called Dawson a boring fighter.
"Hopkins wins by unanimous decision over Dawson if he doesn't knock him out. I believe the fight will be boring. Dawson stays on the outside and doesn't want to engage. I am going for Hopkins for this fight just because I don't like Dawson. I don't like Hopkins either."
Cloud's promoter Don King had been in negotiations for Cloud to face former champion Jean Pascal in December in Canada. The fight fell apart when an agreement couldn't be reached. Pascal and Cloud recently engaged in a Twitter war and Cloud said that he doesn't expect to see Pascal in the ring with him any time soon.
"Pascal follows me on Twitter and Facebook. He's a funny guy to me. The biggest fight we will have was on Twitter. He don't really want to fight me. They want me to come to his country with my belt and pay me no money? That tells me he don't want no fight," stated Cloud.
Besides the aforementioned Hopkins, Dawson, and Pascal, the Tallahassee, Florida native said that he is willing to face any of the top fighters in the division. The all action fighter feels that he is being avoided by the top names in his division and pulls no punches in expressing his feelings towards his rivals.
"I feel that the fighters in the light heavyweight are a bunch of bitches. I'm a put (Biebut) Shumenov on his ass as well."
Cloud finished up by reiterating that he hopes to land a big fight soon. He said, "I'm like a gator in the water waiting to catch a big fish."
Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com Follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter and tune in to The Boxing Lab, Boxingscene's official audio on Tuesdays. The show is hosted by Ernie Gabion, Luis Sandoval and Ryan Burton.
