By Jason Kim: IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko reportedly attempted to line up a big fight against a number of the top contenders with recognizable names, but none of them were interested in facing Wladimir in December, saying his trainer Emanuel Steward.

With everyone saying no, Wladimir had to settle for a fight against 39-year-old former WBA/WBC cruiserweight champion Jean Marc Mormeck on December 10th, because he was the only recognizable name that would fight Wladimir on such short notice.

Speaking with eastsideboxing.com’s On The Ropes Boxing Radio Program, Steward remarked that Wladimir told him “Just to stay busy I want a fight before the end of the year. We have offered a lot of fighters Just to finish up this year, I’m going to have to fight someone.” Steward then said “And he was going through [Robert] Helenius, and [Chris] Arreola, and nobody wants the fight.”

Wladimir is up for facing Antonio Tarver sometime next year. That’s a fight that Tarver wants, and he’ll really help himself make this a bigger fight if he doesn’t just stay idle until then. He’s got to stay busy and at least fight once in between that time.

The Mormeck-Klitschko fight has caused a lot of criticism to be leveled at Wladimir, because this is the kind of opponent that hardly deserves a title shot with the way that Mormeck has struggled against 2nd tier opposition since he moved up to the heavyweight division in 2009. Mormeck has beaten Vinny Maddalone, Fres Oquendo and Timur Ibragimov all by controversial decisions in France. That’s like rewarding Mormeck for mediocrity.