By James Slater – According to the man with all the fight news, Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, the eagerly-anticipated light-heavyweight rumble that is IBF king Tavoris Cloud defending against former world ruler Jean Pascal is set to be officially announced later this week.
The fight will take place in Montreal, Canada on August 11th. Rafael writes also of how official press conference to hype the fascinating fight will take place in New York on June 12th and in Montreal on June 13th.
This match-up has been worked on for some time now, and now that it is a 100-percent go, fans are almost certain to be treated to an exciting fight. Cloud, unbeaten at 24-0(19) loves to face guys who will stand and fight with him, and it’s almost a guarantee that Pascal, 26-2-1(16) will oblige him..
Pascal, out of the ring since his rematch loss to the ageless Bernard Hopkins (May of last year), may be suffering from some rust when he gets in there with the 30-year-old Floridian who is himself coming off a desperately close, unimpressive points win over Gabriel Campillo, and Pascal better be ready for a fast start from the IBF champ. Once the action settles down, however, a gruelling battle of attrition looks a good bet.
Both Cloud and Pascal are coming off disappointing fights in which they were outboxed for long periods, yet against each other, the two warriors will not have to worry about that. Simply put, both men like, and are good at putting on, a rumble. The styles of the two men will gel very well come the summer.
For Cloud, the fight will represent his biggest, potentially toughest fight yet; while for Pascal the fight will present him with the opportunity to become a champion all over again. Neither guy can afford to lose and both will be willing to give their all as a result. Both men can bang, both have a good chin and both fighters have great stamina.
This one looks like a hugely entertaining distance fight to me. Both guys are that hard to separate. If pushed, I’d lean, ever so slightly, in favour of “Thunder” Cloud via close decision.
For U.K fans, let’s hope either SKY Sports or BoxNation grabs a hold of the T.V rights over here. Who wouldn’t want to see this guaranteed barnburner?