By Scott Gilfoid: IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury’s trainer Peter Fury thinks the IBF is being unfair by them threatening to strip Tyson of his IBF title unless he faces his #1 IBF mandatory challenger Vyachyeslav Glazkov next. Tyson has to face Wladimir Klitschko again in an immediate rematch, and he has no choice but to take that fight.
Peter thinks that the IBF should have been aware of the rematch clause that Wladimir had in the contract before they started talking about pushing the IBF mandatory fight against #1 IBF Glazkov.
“I think it’s totally unfair and unprofessional from the IBF, because Tyson was crowned champion only on Saturday,” Peter Fury said to skysports.com. “They’re giving us no time. They should be happy he [Fury] holds the belt and is fighting again in the biggest fight out there. The winner would then take the IBF mandatory,” Peter said.
If Fury vacates the IBF title or has it stripped from him, then Glazkov will have a much lesser fight on his hands against the next highest rated contender in the IBF’s rankings that’s willing to take the fight. I’m not sure that Fury would be interested in the future in facing Glazkov in a unification fight if he were to beat Wladimir a second time.
Unification fights are meaningful at times when the other champion is popular, but I’m not sure that Glazkov has the kind of popularity worldwide for it to be even worth anything for Fury to take that fight if Glazkov can pick up the IBF title.
It’s much better for Fury to face a talent like WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder than it would be for him to face the little known Glazkov in a unification fight. As for Fury defending his IBF title against Glazkov, he can’t do that right now due to him having to face Klitschko again. Fury has no choice but to fight Wladimir a second time if he wants to keep his titles.
“We didn’t know anything about it [the IBF title defense being due] and we don’t want to give up the belts,” Peter said. “How can we face Klitschko and Glazkov t the same time? It’s ridiculous. We’re happy to defend it…There’s no way we can take the fight before Klitschko. He’s first in line.”
It’s a bad deal for Glazkov for him to fight for the IBF title against someone like Charles Martin or one of the IBF’s other top contenders because Glazkov will likely lose the fight, and get a lot less money than he would if he simply waited for a shot against the winner of the Fury vs. Klitschko rematch.
If Glazkov was a super talented contender who could mow down anyone in the division, then it would make more sense for him to push for his title shot right now at the IBF title. But with Glazkov, he’s a fighter with controversial wins over Steve Cunningham and Derric Rossy and a controversial draw against Malik Scott.
I thought Glazkov lost all three of those fights. But even if you wanted to say that Glazkov deserved wins in all of those fights, it’s extremely troubling how close those fights were. To be considered a good fighter, you should be able to wipe the deck with the likes of Cunningham, Rossy and Scott. The fact that Glazkov went life and death with all three of them tells you a lot about the talent of Glazkov, or the lack thereof.
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