Final Press conference for Tavoris Cloud IBF Light Heavyweight title defense against Glen Johnson

Video: Ed Keenan/Emc Events

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, the April 10th co-feature bout between IBF Light Heavyweight champion Yavoris Clous and Glen Johnson is off citing a hamstring injury to Cloud plus the champion signing a promotional deal with Don King.

“I got a call at literally 10 at night [Monday] from a representative of King [Roy Langbord] saying King did a deal with the kid,”Said Lou DiBella told ESPN.com on Tuesday night from Miami, site of the Wednesday news conference. DiBella is promoting the April 10 double header that will also feature AndreBerto defending hs WBC Welterweight title against Carlos Quintana. “I told him that Richie Boy Promotions was the kid’s promoter of record and that I had made deal for the fight with Glen. [Langbord] said there were issues and that King did a deal with Cloud, but that King would talk to me about doing a deal for the fight. I already had a deal for the fight. So I’m sitting there — I have a show on April 10, a press conference on Wednesday and a flight to Miami in 12 hours. What the [expletive] is going on here? I told [Langbord] to tell Don I have nothing to talk to him about.

“Ten minutes later I get a call back [from Langbord] saying Cloud is hurt. I was on the phone with his lawyer, with his manager and with his adviser. They said they had no idea about him being with King. They were in the blind about him doing a deal with King and to their knowledge he was healthy. He must have gotten hurt walking up the steps to King’s mansion to sign that deal.”

“I don’t know anything about any of that,” King told ESPN.com when told of DiBella’s version of events. “All I know is that the guy came to me five weeks ago and him and his manager [Jerry Attardi] told me they had no deal with anybody and they asked me to help and I said, ‘OK.’ We finalized the details. He signed with me and I didn’t know nothing about any of this.”

“This guy is hurt. He can’t even fight if he wanted to,” King said. “I told Lou [through Langbord] I’d be happy to have him fight Glen, but he can’t do it April 10. We’ll jump through hoops to fight Glen Johnson. But we asked for a medical exception from the IBF, the IBF granted an exception. It’s just a postponement of the fight. With or without me, Cloud wouldn’t be able to fight on April 10. So he’ll fight Glen Johnson as soon as the doctor clears him.”

“I had to make a decision in the middle of the night on whether I could save this fight and I didn’t think it could, so I turned to the most meaningful thing I could do and something that would also work for HBO,” DiBella said. “I was on the phone with Caballero’s people and we were in touch with Yordan’s people in Indonesia.”

“They got back to me quickly and they weren’t interested in the fight in this time frame,” DiBella said. “I had already locked in a doubleheader with the site and the promotional materials were done. So we made Caballero-Yordan overnight and changed everything.”

“There may be some lawsuits. I suffered damages,” DiBella said. “I don’t like litigating, but what went down was wrong and the way it went down was wrong.”

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ESPN’s Friday Night Fights broadcast got off to an explosive start with former 2 time Olympic Gold Medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux 5-0 (4KO) throwing 3 punches and ending the night early with a 1st round KO over Adolfo Landeros 20-12(9). The first punch was a straight left hand that rocked Landeros. The next two came in form of a right hook and a scooping left body shot that floored the underdog, down and out! The end came at just 28 seconds of the first round.

Light heavyweight Glen “The Road Warrior” Johnson 50-13(34KO) was dominate in a 6th round TKO win over Philadelphia’s Yusaf Mack28-3 (17KO).

Both fighters answered the opening bell with respect for one another’s skill and power. Johnson applied early and steady pressure winning the first three rounds. An excellent exchange started and ended an excellent fourth round. Johnson caught Mack in the corner in round 6 and overwhelmed him with combinations and dropped the Philly fighter in his own corner. Johnson showed his wealth of experience in continuing with a steady and calm attack which dropped Mack two more times before the end came at 2:21 of round 6. Mack was caught on the ropes for the majority of the bout.

We caught up with Glenn Johnson and his head trainer Orlando Cuellar immediately after the fight and asked them how did you get Yusaf to fight your fight? (Glen and his trainer) “By utilizing the jab, continually coming forward and going to the body often” (trainer) “Glen looks like he would be easy to match up against but his style is tough to figure out”

Welterweight Ed Paredes ignited the crowd and made a big statement on the way to a 2nd round knockout over Joey Hernandez 15-1-1. Paredes 24-3(15KO) and Hernandez fought to a draw late of 2009 and picked up the great action from the opening bell. Both fighters found their mark in a very good action packed round one with both fighters landing some solid shots. The stark contrasting styles of the two fighters made for an action packed first. Shortly after the opening bell in round two the fighters stood in close and Paredes set up a beautiful picture perfect left hook that dropped Hernandez down and out. The end came at 1:53 of the 2nd round. This brings the first loss to Hernandez’s career.

Yudel Jhonson improves to 5-0 (3KO) with a big KO1 win over Dorian Beaupierre 12-6(6KO). The end came 2:18 of the first round.

Yordanis Despaigne 5-0 (4KO) scored a 1st round KO over Demetrius Davis 19-19. Frank Gentile stepped in at 2:01 of the third round.

ESPN’s Friday night Fights Early Results from Fort Lauderdale FL.

Live from Fort Lauderdale, FL and Nova Southeastern University inside the Don Taft University Center Arena the great action got started early.

Cuban Featherweight Yoandris Salinas improved to 2-0(1KO) with a TKO3 win over Yuniel Ramos who falls to 0-2.

Cruiserweight Yuniel Dorticos 3-0(3KO) got a big first round TKO win over Gary Lavender 8-14 from North Carolina.

Pedro Rodriguez 1-0 earned his first win as a pro with a big third round TKO win over Hilario Guzman 8-29.

In a four round Middleweight bout Manny Woods (3-0 1KO) scored a Unanimous decision over Erik Quinteros who drops to 2-3.

In a closely contested split decision Glendy Hernandez wins his professional debut over Corey Winfield (3-5) in a battle of the heavyweights.

In attendance Kassim Ouma, Gato Figueroa, Francisco Palacios, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Dieuly Aristotle, Juan Urango, BJ Flores, Freddy Roach.
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Johnny….
Boxing iWriter & Reporter
15 Rounds.com, GoFightLive.tv
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After Shane Mosley and Andre Berto had their bout canceled for next Saturday night in Las Vegas, a solid undercard was also postponed but one of the main fights has found a home as Yusaf Mack will now battle Glen Johnson in an IBF Light Heavyweight elimination bout on February 5th in Miami in a bout that will be televised by ESPN 2.

Mack 25-2-2 with seventeen knockouts of Philadelphia will be looking to secure a title shot but the former champion Johnson, 49-13-2 with thirty-three knockouts will be standing in his way in front of Johnson’s adopted hometwon fans in Miami.

When reached for comment, Mack’s co-manager Rory Donadio told 15rounds.com, “Team Mack want’s to thank (ESPN Boxing Czar) Doug Loughary for pulling a rabbit out of his hat to make this fight possible”