By Jim Dower: Two-time light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (29-1, 17 KO’s) could be facing International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud (21-0, 18 KO’s), says Dawson’s promoter Gary Shaw in an interview by Greg Leon at boxingtalk.com. Dawson, 28, lost his last fight to WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal last month in a 11th round technical decision defeat in Montreal, Canada. Dawson didn’t fight at all well during the bout, not throwing enough punches and looking tentative. In the 11th round, Dawson opened up with a huge flurry of punches and appeared to have a tired Pascal hurt and ready to go down.

However, Dawson suddenly stopped punching to admire his work and let Pascal survive. Later on in the round, Dawson hurt Pascal again with a big uppercut but then didn’t try to finish him off with a sustained attack. Moments later, the two fighters clashed heads and Dawson was badly cut over his right eye. The fight was then stopped because the blood was just pouring out of the cut and Dawson likely wouldn’t have done well with the blood obscuring his vision.

It would be really surprising if Shaw were to match Dawson against a non-stop puncher like Cloud, because this is an opponent in which Dawson would be forced to fight hard for a full three minutes of every round instead of getting lazy and just fighting sporadically. It would be a good fight for Dawson to take to sharpen him for Pascal, because he would literally be forced to fight all out to beat Cloud if he wanted to win. However, I don’t think Dawson could handle Cloud’s work rate and might end up getting beaten again. I think Dawson could beat Cloud if he could let his hands go. Glen Johnson looked horrible in his recent fight with Cloud in August, and yet he was able to make it close. Cloud won the fight by a 12 round decision, but he had a lot of problems against the aging Johnson.

Dawson has a rematch clause with Pascal. Jean first will be fighting 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins in December. It would be in Dawson’s best interest to stay active while he waits for the rematch with Pascal, because he needs to be sharp for when that fight happens. Dawson had to wait nine long months to get the fight with Pascal in August, because he had to wait for Jean’s injured shoulder to heal. In hindsight, Dawson should have squeezed in another fight while he waiting instead of just losing all that time in his career without a fight. He looked rusty from inactivity against Pascal.