The IBF sanctioning organization did their job today in dutifully stripping their reluctant heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) of his IBF title for him failing to agree to defend the title against #1 IBF mandatory challenger Vyacheslav “Czar” Glazkov. The move clears the way for Glazkov to fight for the vacant IBF title against unbeaten #4 IBF Charles Martin for the title.
The 6’7” Fury captured the IBF title last Saturday night in edging the past his prime 39-year-old Wladimir Klitschko by a dull 12 round unanimous decision at the ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Besides the IBF title, Fury also won the IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles with that victory. Fury doesn’t care that he’s losing the IBF title, because he still has three heavyweight straps that he’ll go into his rematch against Wladimir with in early 2016. The money that Fury can make against Wladimir is far more than he would make in defending his IBF title against the 31-year-old Glazkov.
That’s a fight that would be tough to sell in the UK, because Glazkov isn’t seen as one of the more popular heavyweights in the division. Glazkov looked terrible in his fights against Tomasz Adamek, Derric Rossy, Malik Scott and Steve Cunningham. Somehow, Glazkov made it through those four fights without being given defeats, because it sure looked like he lost three of those fights to Rossy, Scott and Cunningham in my view.
Glazkov will need to beat unbeaten Charles Martin for the canvas IBT title if he wants to win. That could prove to be even more difficult than facing Fury, because Martin has both size and punching power going for him. With Fury, he’s just tall and uses his reach to slap at his shorter opponents. Glazkov wouldn’t have had to worry about being knocked out by Fury the way he will against Martin.
Fury will need to beat Klitschko in the rematch for him to move forward to big money fights against guys like Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte and David Haye. There’s a huge pot of gold that Fury can get if he can get through all of those fights in one piece with his unbeaten and world titles still in his possession. Getting past the over-the-hill looking Wladimir shouldn’t be too tough of a task for Fury, but beating the likes of Joshua, Whyte, Haye and Wilder will prove to be much harder goals for the light hitting Fury. He’s going to need to come up with some kind of battle plan to beat those fighters because on paper, he doesn’t match up.