The World Boxing Council has given permission for WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (21-1, 18 KO’s) to make a voluntary defense against former IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud (24-1, 19 KO’s), according to Steve Kim.
This means that that the 35-year-old Stevenson can bypass his mandatory title defense against challenger Tony Bellew. I’m sure Bellew won’t like this news because he had been hoping that he’d be next in line to face Stevenson after he beat Isaac Chilemba recently to become his mandatory.