Erdei's hand injury cancels bout against Cloud

A hand injury suffered by Hungarian Zsolt Erdei has forced the cancellation of a New Year's Eve challenge against IBF light heavyweight titleholder Tavoris Cloud, as well as the co-feature between two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux and undefeated WBA junior featherweight titleholder Rico Ramos.

"Unfortunately, we had to cancel this telecast," said Chris DeBlasio, vice president, sports communications for the network. "But the good news is we are actively looking for a new night to showcase these talented fighters on Showtime."

Cloud was to make the fourth defense of the crown he earned by unanimous decision over former titleholder Clinton Woods in August of 2009.

Cloud is coming off an eighth-round stoppage of Yusaf Mack in June, the same month during which Erdei won his last bout by sixth-round knockout of former WBA super middleeight beltholder Byron Mitchell.

Rigondeaux won the WBA's interim belt by split-decision in November over Ricardo Cordoba on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao's unanimous decision over Antonio Margarito for the WBC's since-vacated junior middleweight crown. His most recent win was a first-round knockout of Willie Casey (12-1, 8 KOs) in March.

The 24-year-old Ramos is coming off a seventh-round knockout of former WBA titleholder Akifumi Shimoda (23-3-1, 10 KOs) in July.

"Ramos vs. Rigondeaux is an important fight in the deep super bantamweight division," said DeBlasio. "And Tavoris Cloud is a force at light heavyweight. We anticipate his Showtime debut."

Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com