Tavoris Cloud faces big test against Glen Johnson this Saturday

By Boxing News - 08/04/2010 - Comments

Image: Tavoris Cloud faces big test against Glen Johnson this SaturdayBy Jason Kim: After a year of inactivity, International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud (20-0, 18 KO’s) will finally be making his first defense of his title against 41-year-old former IBF light heavyweight champion Glen Johnson (50-13-2, 34 KO’s) at the Scottrade Center, in Saint Louis, Missouri. Johnson is Cloud’s current number #1 challenger and probably the best of the contenders that the IBF has ranked at the moment. The Cloud vs. Johnson bout will be taking place on the undercard of the light welterweight match-up between IBF/WBC light welterweight champion Devon Alexander vs. former WBA title holder Andriy Kotelnik.

Cloud needs to look good in this fight and show that he can be a future star in the sport. In his last fight a year ago, the 28-year-old Cloud defeated Britain’s Clinton Woods by a 12 round unanimous decision to capture the vacant IBF light heavyweight title. It was far from an impressive performance by Cloud, though, as he showed that on the defensive side of his game, he was wide open for anything that Woods threw in the fight. The only time Cloud wasn’t getting hit was when he was throwing his own shots.

Cloud’s work rate is top notch. He’s a fighter that likes to stay busy and throw a lot of punches in every round. However, he seems unable to defend himself and gets hit far too much. Against a good boxer or one with big power, Cloud may find himself in deep trouble. The good news is that the light heavyweight division is probably the worst in all of boxing, next to the cruiserweight division. Cloud should be able to hold onto his title for a long time unless he fights Chad Dawson. In that case, Cloud will likely get schooled and lose his title. He doesn’t appear to be in Dawson’s league, not even close.

However, Cloud should be good enough to beat the 41-year-old Johnson on Saturday night if his chin can stand up to the big shots that Johnson is going to be hitting him with. This is going to be a big test for Cloud, because up until this point in his career, he hasn’t been facing big punchers. After six years as a pro, Cloud will face his first big hitter and you have to wonder whether he’ll be able to take the shots from Johnson. We all know that Cloud can punch on his own, there’s no question about that. But the real question is whether he can stand up to getting hit with hard shots.

We’ll find out on Saturday. Cloud needs to be busier with his career. At 28, he can’t really afford to be losing a year of his career with inactivity. Who knows how much time Cloud has left? There’s always a younger fighter out there ready step up and take your place. Since there are few fighters to take on in the division, Cloud needs to target Dawson and Jean Pascal. Those are probably the only top fighters he’ll be able to get in the ring. I seriously doubt that Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. will ever fight him.



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