By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Wladimir Klitschko quickly mapped out his foreseeable future after beating Bryant Jennings on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

The 39-year-old Klitschko expects to encounter England’s Tyson Fury in his next fight. If he defeats Fury and WBC champion Deontay Wilder wins his first title defense, Klitschko thinks he and Wilder could meet in a full heavyweight title unification fight early in 2016.

“I just got the news that it was my free title defense against Bryant Jennings and now I have to go back to being obligated to defend my titles,” said Klitschko, who defeated Philadelphia’s Jennings (19-1, 10 KOs) by unanimous decision (116-111, 116-111, 118-109). “I have mandatories. I don’t know who is exactly in the line, [which] one of the federations it would be. But the way it looks, Tyson Fury is going to be my next challenger.”

The 6-foot-9, 260-pound Fury is the WBO’s No. 1 contender. The 6-6, 245-pound Klitschko owns the IBF, WBA and WBO titles, but his fight against Jennings was an optional defense.

Klitschko made a mandatory defense of his IBF title on Nov. 15, when he knocked out Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev (20-1, 11 KOs) in the fifth round in Hamburg, Germany. The No. 1 spot in the WBA’s heavyweight rankings is vacant (Jennings is rated No. 2 by the WBA).

While Klitschko typically fights in Germany, the hulking Ukrainian seemed at least open to the idea facing Fury (24-0, 18 KOs) in England, where the colorful Fury has become a big draw.

“I think this fight needs to happen in Europe,” Klitschko said. “It’s a good European fight. As the champion of the world, you travel and fight different places. I know that he’s also the [WBO] mandatory [challenger]. Obviously that’s something that I hope that I have to do, to defend my title, the [WBO] title at least. And then with Fury fighting [me] in Germany or in Great Britain, that’s something that we have to figure out. Where the location of the fight is going to happen, I don’t know yet. But that’s what we need to work on in the next weeks and days.”

Klitschko (64-3, 53 KOs) also appeared intrigued by the prospect of fighting Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs), a former sparring partner from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who attended the Klitschko-Jennings fight.

“That’s true – one belt is missing,” Klitschko said. “It was in the Klitschko family, but I never owned the WBC championship. Such a unification fight against Wilder would be fantastic. It’s not going to happen in the next fight of mine, because I think Deontay needs to defend his title [for] the first time. After he [wins] it, then probably such a fight can happen sometime in the beginning of next year.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.