Tavoris Cloud

Tavoris Karod Cloud (born January 10, 1982 in Tallahassee, Florida, USA) is an American professional boxer and a former IBF Light Heavyweight Champion.

Early life

When interviewed by ESPN, Tavoris Cloud explained that he had a tough childhood. His neighbourhood, as he recalled, was very rough. He lived in a small home that housed at times 10-15 people. It was a very poor environment. He went on to explain how meager his family's situation was, and spoke on how his family used a foot tub with ice in it as a fridge. His mother Emma Smith, reflected upon the day that Tavoris Cloud declared that he was going to take care of this situation. He was around 14–15 years of age. Alonzo Johnson (Boxing Coach), trained and housed Tavoris during his high school years. Tavoris has been training with Alonzo Johnson since his Amateur days. Alonzo Johnson can be seen working in his corner alongside Al Bonanni (Trainer) during fights. Al Bonanni, a recent Florida Boxing Hall of Famer is his professional boxing trainer, and has been for the past 5 years.

Career

Cloud started boxing at 17 and had a 46-8 amateur record, representing his country at the 2000 U19 world championships. He lost the final of the 2002 US-championships to Curtis Stevens.

His professional record is 24-1 (19) including a KO of Aaron Williams conqueror Jose Luis Herrera.

On August 8, 2008, at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Cloud defeated former WBO Light Heavyweight Champion Julio César González by technical knockout in the tenth round in an IBF Light Heavyweight title eliminator.^[1] Cloud set the tempo of the fight early, hurting Gonzalez with a right cross in dominating the first round. It was more of the same in the next two rounds, although Gonzalez made the third round the most competitive. He kept the fight in the middle of the ring, but Cloud kept sending him back with uppercuts and left hooks. With González taking a beating for the majority of the fight, in round ten, the referee stopped the fight after Cloud landed a right hand.

Recent fights

Tavoris won the IBF Light Heavyweight title against the durable Clinton Woods by way of a 12 round unanimous decision after former champion Chad Dawson vacated the belt (it is argued in the boxing community that Chad Dawson vacated the IBF belt to avoid Tavoris Cloud, whom he represented the country with during his amateur career. However, this argument can not be concluded as fact). The fight against Clinton Woods took place on August 28, 2009. Cloud threw well over 1000 punches in the fight which is well over the average for that weight division and won the fight by unanimous decision after 12 rounds.

Cloud defeated Glen Johnson by unanimous decision on August 7, 2010.

Cloud faced the Columbian knockout artist Fulgencio Zuniga (24-5-1 (20 KO)) for a title defense and earned a unanimous decision.

Following the Zuniga win, Cloud improved his record with another TKO decision over Yusaf Mack.

Cloud defeated Spaniard Gabriel Campillo via split decision. The win stirred up controversy, with fans scoring the bout for Campillo. However, unbenounced to Fans, "the referee said that there are no standing eight counts..."- A statement Tavoris Cloud made to Lem Satterfield when interviewed for The Ring Magazine's website The Ring. Tavoris Cloud further stated, "when we got in there the first round, and I dropped him, the referee pulled me out of the way and started to give him an eight count. I mean, that's the fight right there."

Cloud's next opponent was thought to be Former World Champion and Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist: Jean Pascal, with a scheduled fight date of August 11, 2012, but Pascal pulled out of the fight last minute due to a hand injury suffered in training. Cloud adamantly believes the injury was faked.

Cloud later took on Bernard Hopkins on March 9, 2013 at the Barclays center in Brooklyn and lost his IBF Championship via Unanimous Decision (UD).

In the following September Cloud challenged Adonis Stevenson for the WBC light-heavyweight title, and took a beating before quiting in his corner

On September 27, 2014, Cloud faced Dagestan contender Artur Beterbiev. Right from the start Cloud was outmatched and unable to cope with the power of his vastly larger foe, getting dropped three times in the first round before finally being for the last time early in the second. Cloud was unable to beat referee Michael Griffin's count, making this his third consecutive loss.

Professional boxing record

24 Wins (19 knockouts, 5 decisions), 3 Losses (2 by knockout, 1 by decision), 0 Draws [2]
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	24–3	Artur Beterbiyev	KO	2 (12)	2014-09-27	Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec	For vacant NABA Light Heavyweight title.
Loss	24–2	Adonis Stevenson	RTD	7 (12)	2013-09-28	Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec	For WBC & The Ring Light Heavyweight titles.
Loss	24–1	Bernard Hopkins	UD	12	2013-03-09	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York, United States	Lost IBF Light Heavyweight title.
Win	24–0	Gabriel Campillo	SD	12	2012-02-18	American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas, United States	Retained IBF Light Heavyweight title.
Win	23–0	Yusaf Mack	TKO	8 (12)	2011-06-25	Family Arena, Saint Charles, Missouri, United States	Retained IBF Light Heavyweight title.
Win	22–0	Fulgencio Zuniga	UD	12	2010-12-17	American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida, United States	Retained IBF Light Heavyweight title.
Win	21–0	Glen Johnson	UD	12	2010-08-07	Scottrade Center, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States	Retained IBF Light Heavyweight title.
Win	20–0	Clinton Woods	UD	12	2009-08-28	Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood, Florida, United States	Won vacant IBF Light Heavyweight title.
Win	19–0	Julio Cesar Gonzalez	TKO	10 (12)	2008-08-08	Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois, United States	IBF Light Heavyweight Title Eliminator.
Win	18–0	Mike Wood	KO	1 (12)	2008-03-28	Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois, United States	Won vacant NABA, USBA & WBO NABO Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	17–0	Jacob Rodriguez	RTD	3 (8)	2007-12-14	Cicero Stadium 1909 S. Laramie, Cicero, Illinois, United States
Win	16–0	Jose Luis Herrera	TKO	5 (10)	2007-08-24	Congress Theater, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Win	15–0	Jim Strohl	KO	1 (10)	2007-05-11	Cicero Stadium, Cicero, Illinois, United States
Win	14–0	Aaron Norwood	KO	2 (8)	2007-02-16	Cicero Stadium, Cicero, Illinois, United States
Win	13–0	Douglas LaFontsee	TKO	4 (8)	2006-11-10	Cicero Stadium, Cicero, Illinois, United States
Win	12–0	Tim Shocks	TKO	4 (8)	2006-09-15	Aragon Ballroom 1106 W Lawrence, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Win	11–0	Mitch Hicks	TKO	1 (8)	2006-07-21	Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Win	10–0	Anthony Dennis	TKO	2 (8)	2006-03-17	Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Win	9–0	Roosevelt Johnson	KO	4 (8)	2006-01-27	Farm Bureau Building, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	8–0	Ron Krull	TKO	2 (8)	2005-11-03	Civic Center, Hammond, Indiana, United States
Win	7–0	Joseph Hill	TKO	3 (4)	2005-07-13	Majestic Star Casino, Gary, Indiana, United States
Win	6–0	Reggie Strickland	UD	4	2005-05-06	Farm Bureau Building, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	5–0	Ronald Moore	TKO	1 (4)	2004-12-11	Greensboro, North Carolina, United States
Win	4–0	Curtis Mullins	TKO	3 (4)	2004-11-20	Greensboro, North Carolina, United States
Win	3–0	Kevin Thompson	TKO	1 (4)	2004-10-23	Greensboro, North Carolina, United States
Win	2–0	Taryll Carpenter	TKO	1 (4)	2004-10-09	Lighthouse Convention Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
Win	1–0	Luis Reyes	TKO	3 (4)	2004-04-02	Equestrian Complex, Ocala, Florida, United States	Cloud's professional debut.

References

External links

• Professional boxing record for Tavoris Cloud from BoxRec
• Article
• http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=4430588

Cloud is also a Prince Hall Freemason. He is a member of Valentine Lodge 147 F&AM PHA in Tallahassee, Florida