Bernard Hopkins Vs Tavoris Cloud: Official Boxing Breakdown & Prediction – HBO Saturday Night Main Event – Boxing News
By Geno McGahee
This Saturday night, 48-year-old, Bernard Hopkins, 52-6-2, 32 KO’s, will try to take the IBF light heavyweight title from defending champion, Tavoris Cloud, 24-0, 19 KO’s, in a compelling match up. It’s amazing to think that Hopkins is still around after all of these years.
Bernard Hopkins is one of the best fighters of all time, regardless of what you think of his style in the ring. He has taken on and beaten the best and held onto the middleweight title from 1995 to 2005, defending it regularly. Even his defeats to Jermain Taylor, the man that broke his streak, were questionable.
After his losses to Taylor, he would rebound with victory over WBC light heavyweight title holder, Jean Pascal, becoming the oldest man ever to win a title. He would drop the title to Chad Dawson by a wide decision in his last fight and now he wants a championship back, but is Cloud too strong and too young for an old man in Hopkins?
The impressive list of opponents that Hopkins has faced includes Felix Trinidad (TKO-12), Oscar De La Hoya (KO-9), Antonio Tarver (W-12), Winky Wright (W-12), Joe Calzaghe (L-12), Kelly Pavlik (W-12), Roy Jones Jr (L-12, W-12), Jean Pascal (D-12, W-12) and Chad Dawson (D-3, L-12). He has defeated the majority of the upper echelon of fighters, compiling a record that has to be respected. Hopkins, even at 48, cannot be overlooked and many are favoring him to win.
Cloud is a puncher with tremendous power, but he has some issues with clever boxers. In his last fight, he was clearly beaten by Gabriel Campillo, but was awarded the controversial split decision. Cloud has beaten some grizzled veterans like Glen Johnson (W-12), Clinton Woods (W-12) and Julio Cesar Gonzalez (KO-10), but he is going to have a rough night with the awkward, mauling style of the “Executioner.”
Hopkins is taking this fight because he sees a slow plodder as he did when he fought and easily defeated the undefeated middleweight champion, Kelly Pavlik in 2008. Hopkins, at 48, won’t do well with speed as proven in the Chad Dawson defeat, but he can handle slow and steady and that is what Cloud is, but there are major risks.
Without question, Cloud is looking at this fight as his ticket to the big time. Nobody has knocked out Hopkins, but Jean Pascal did drop him twice. That is an indication that Hopkins’ reflexes are getting worse by the fight and if Cloud can keep his head together and throw rather than getting caught up in the Hopkins game, then he has a chance to knock out the old man and do it early.
This fight may be one fight too many for Hopkins. He showed against Pascal that he’s easier to hit and showed against Dawson that he has trouble with the younger fighter at this point in his career. Cloud and his team have taken this risk because the reward is so great and because this is a very winnable fight. Cloud should come out and maintain focus and he has more incentive to win then he’s ever had. He’s coming off the terrible performance with Campillo and has a big prize standing in front of him. Look for Cloud to batter Hopkins and finally be the man that puts the first TKO loss on his record.
Saturday night should be something special and historic for fight fans that have followed the long and storied career of the Executioner.
