I saw him fight August of last year and remember being very impressed. I wanted to see him in the ring again but not a year later. does anyone know why there was this huge gap of inactivity? second question: has anyone actually seen a fight of his?
HBO wanted to show Cloud on the network to build the Cloud-Dawson fight up since Cloud was Dawson's mandatory. Cloud's team declined the offer. Dawson then dropped the title, which I don't blame him for doing because if Team Cloud wanted the fight, they'd have taken the HBO deal. Now, Tavoris is facing Clinton Woods for that vacant title on ESPN. So, they get a fight with less money but an easier chance at the IBF belt. He also lost out on the money he could've made building up the fight on HBO. Is it dumb management because he missed out on the biggest fight, missed current earnings, and was inactive for a year? Or a shrewd call because now the risk/reward's in his favor for the title fight and he can always milk the belt with a few bums once he's won it? I'll let you draw your own conclusions on it. If he comes out rusty and finds a way to lose the fight, the call's going to bite him in the ass big time regardless of the motive behind it. I still don't see Cloud losing, though.
His whooping of Gonzalez was massively impressive, although Gonzalez did look old. If Woods fights like he did against Tarver i seriously worry for him
He basically waited out his chance to fight for the title, maybe he knew Dawson would not fight him (in favor of fighting bigger more lucrative matchups). He is now the clear favorite against and older and slower Woods.
Dawson is by far the most dangerous lightheavyweight in the division, and Cloud is relatively inexperienced, so i think it might be a wise move to have him get a few more "name" fights first, which would also give their team some more leverage on the purse split during negotiations with a possible future Dawson fight. On the other hand, i think Dawson has a somewhat dentable chin and Cloud is a huge hitter, so a Cloud win would definitely not have been out of the question, and it would've probably been a very entertaining bout. But that "0" is just worth too much these days..... :-(
