Tavoris Cloud- Smartest guy in the room?

Something's been nagging at me lately, and I mentioned it briefly in another thread, but wanted to post it here so it doesn't get lost. You guys know I'm no Chad Dawson nuthugger, but I have to stick up for him on this whole Tavoris Cloud issue. On the surface, it looks normal enough- Chad's had mandatory issues before and vacated a belt, so it's easier to believe it could happen again. Just more of the same, right?

Thing is, nobody's mentioned Cloud's gameplan here- and I don't know how much of it is Cloud's plan, but I'm going to refer to it that way for simplicity. What we've got is this:

1) Cloud's fought one guy who could pass for a live body. To his credit, he did look very good in that fight.

2) Upon winning his mandatory spot, instead of trying to refine his skills and patch up some holes in his game (which he needs for the next level) and making a bigger name for himself (which he also desperately needs), we get.....nothing. No stay busy fights, no chance to build on the career momentum fo himself, nothin'. It'll be a year between fights.

3) There's a good chance that Chad's going to drop to 168 with no title and no big LHW fights on the horizon, leaving the division wide open for one of the unknowns, like Cloud, to emerge.

Which brings me to my main point- is it possible that Cloud's been laying low this entire time on purpose in order to make himself so unattractive to Dawson that Chad just says the hell with it? Think about it. By not building up his name since the Gonzalez fight, Cloud still remains pretty much anonymous and as such brings no financial reward. With no Dawson in the picture, he's now got a significantly easier title fight scheduled vs Clinton Woods, who could be game, but is more likely to be done as a top LHW contender. He'll also be able to make more $$ by beating Woods and some bums than possibly losing to Dawson for the challenger's split.

What say you, ESB-ites?:think

 

I think you're right, too.

Makes me wonder what the deal is with him (and, as others have pointed out, his team)- they've got an exciting fighter, but he's also a flawed one who could've used another fight or two to work some kinks out in the meantime. There's no legitimate reason for him not to be a more well-known fighter than he is now, and it's ultimately hurting his career earnings. Woods is an easier fight than Chad, but when you're as inexperienced at the higher levels of the division as Cloud is, it still makes it a riskier fight than it should be.

 

I applaud you for being diplomatic my friend, because when I look at it the more I'm convinced that Cloud's secret advisor is a Magic 8-ball, although the odds are that the 8-ball wouldn't give him crappy advice that consistently.

The whole reason I came out with my little conspiracy theory at the top is that's the only scenario I could see that makes any kind of sense....besides shaking it for 5 seconds and reading the prediction, that is.