IBF light heavyweight beltholder Tavoris Cloud told RingTV.com on Friday that he has signed to his part of a deal that would allow him to defend his title against former WBC/RING champ Jean Pascal on Showtime later this year.

Cloud (24-0, 19 knockouts) told RingTV.com on Tuesday that he hoped to meet with promoter Don King on Wednesday to finalize the bout with Pascal (26-2-1, 16 KOs), whom he and his trainer, Al Bonani, had called out in the past.

That meeting did, indeed, take place at King’s offices in Deerfield Beach, Fla, and Cloud says that he is now on board to fight Pascal on a date and at a venue to be determined.

“The meeting went good. I went in there and I signed my name on the dotted line. Now, if Pascal really wants to fight, let him sign his name. I just want to fight. We don’t have a date or the venue yet, but Tavoris Cloud’s name is on the dotted line to fight Jean Pascal,” said Cloud, from his home in Tallahassee, Fla.

“Pascal just has to make the decision. But If he feels that he needs $5 million to fight me, so that he can have a nice retirement, then the fight probably won’t happen. But if he really wants to make a fight and accept the offer, then the fight should happen. I heard that they were offering him $1 million, and that it went up a little higher from that.”

Pascal’s promoter, Yvon Michel, could not immediately be reached, and King’s publicist, Alan Hopper, said that his client is being “uncharacteristically tight-lipped” concerning the deal until its completion.

“Don looks forward to speaking on this issue after the deal is finalized,” said Hopper, vice president of public relations for King.

“The meeting didn’t even take long at all. The meeting took maybe a couple of hours. We got it done in one day, because, you know, I’m a fighter that wants to fight, and I want to fight the best out there. I’m not trying to make it complicated,” said Cloud.

“That’s the reason why a lot of fights don’t happen. People want to be so hard-nosed in the negotiations and things like that. I’m not going to say how much I’m getting, but my name is already on the dotted line.”

Cloud is coming off a controversial Showtime-televised title defense against former WBA titleholder Gabriel Campillo (21-4-1, 8 KOs), whom Cloud edged by split-decision in February.

“I want to show that that fight was a fluke,” said Cloud. “We’ve definitely got some more fights that are exciting coming up in the future, so we’re just going to keep on moving forward.”

RING/WBC champ Bernard Hopkins, who turned 47 in January, dethroned Pascal as WBC beltholder by unanimous decision last May to become the oldest man to win a significant title belt in boxing.

Hopkins-Pascal II was a rematch of their disputed draw in December of 2010, during which Hopkins rose from two early knockdowns.

Photos by David Martin Warr, Don King Productions

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]