By Jake Donovan

It’s been a whirlwind past few days for the heavyweight division, with plenty more to come for as long as Tyson Fury is ruling the roost.

For the moment, unbeaten contender Vyacheslav Glazkov is doing his best to deal with all of the craziness and how every recent and forthcoming move affects his immediate future.

With Fury’s recent November 28 unanimous decision win over Wladimir Klitschko on the road in Dusseldorf, Germany came recognition as the World heavyweight champion. Such honors also include the slew of alphabet titles Klitschko has collected and held over the course of a 9½ year, 18-defense title reign, as well as the mandatory challengers to go along with said belts.

Glazkov became the mandatory contender for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) heavyweight title dating back to his 12-round disputed decision win over Steve Cunningham in March. The unbeaten heavyweight from Ukraine was actually due a shot in August, but the IBF agreed to allow Klitschko to first face Fury – the World Boxing Organization (WBO) mandatory – on the basis that Glazkov gets first dibs at the winner.

Fury was led to believe that a win would grant him an optional defense before entering mandatory challenges, but such was not the case given the overdue status with the IBF.

“No, because of the rotation of title defenses per organization,” IBF spokesperson Jeanette Salazar informed BoxingScene.com upon inquiry regarding the organization’s stated policy on incoming champions. “The IBF mandatory was actually due on August 20th.”

Glazkov (21-0-1, 12KOs) – who now lives and trains in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida – has since marked time with a stay-busy win in August while waiting out the Fury-Klitschko event to unfold. Upon Fury’s win, the IBF ordered a 30-day negotiation period between champion and challenger.

However - as it was also common knowledge that Klitschko was bound to exercise a rematch clause that was included in their fight contract – Main Events, Glazkov’s promoter moved quickly to ensure that its fighter wouldn’t be left out in the cold without options. Fury could have used that period to request an exception for an optional defense – such as a rematch with Klitschko or even a unification bout with World Boxing Council (WBC) champion Deontay Wilder.

As such, Main Events CEO Kathy Duva requested an immediate purse bid in lieu of a negotiation period. The IBF acted in kind, ordering a hearing for December 11 at its headquarters in New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Glazkov and his deal are currently entertaining an offer to face Wilder on January 16th at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

“We are trying to protect Glazkov's position and are working hard to secure the best possible deal for our fighter,” Duva informed BoxingScene.com through her press office on Wednesday.

The moves were made of the belief that all bases were covered and that Fury would either have to enter the purse bid hearing or vacate the title.

“(Glazkov) was the mandatory and his camp requested a purse bid stating they were not willing to negotiate upon receiving notification that they were to begin negotiations with Fury’s camp.  Once a purse bid is ordered under our rules the champion can’t request an exception,” Salazar explained of the IBD rule regarding mandatory challengers and ordered purse bids.

It appeared earlier on Wednesday that those plans went up in smoke. Even before Klitschko announced his intention to pursue an immediate rematch , Fury was already warm to the idea. The hulking 6’9” heavyweight from England even spoke of taking a page out of the book of former heavyweight champ and current Hall of Fame entrant Riddick Bowe, who famously dumped his WBC title in a dumpster rather than be dictated to regarding when he had to face Lennox Lewis, at the time his unbeaten mandatory challenger.

Fury is prepared to do the same , though the emphasis being that he will likely vacate the IBF crown.

Such a move limits Glazkov’s options to:
- Accepting terms for a showdown with Wilder
- Awaiting appointment of the next highest contender to meet for the vacant IBF title

Reaching a deal with Wilder would have to come in the next few days, as the undefeated titlist from Alabama is due to hold a press conference on Saturday in Brooklyn. The session will take place prior to the Showtime-televised card headlined by an all-Brooklyn middleweight clash between Daniel Jacobs and Peter Quillin at Barclays Center.

Given it’s already known that Wilder will play the same venue next month, all that’s left to is to formally reveal whom he will face for the third defense of the title he won this past January. In that regard, the clock is ticking for Team Glazkov to declare yay or nay to such a fight.

Charles Martin currently represents the leading candidate for the latter option. However, it’s being falsely reported that a Glazkov-Martin fight will automatically be ordered once Fury relinquishes the title. The unbeaten southpaw first has to get past another undefeated heavyweight in Dominic Breazeale, whom he faces on December 12th in San Antonio, as part of a live primetime showing of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on NBC.

For now, Glazkov is forced to play the waiting game while hoping for the best.

“I cannot comment on the talks taking place. I can tell you that we are pleased with the way Main Events is handling things,” Glazkov told BoxingScene.com. “I know we will make a decision soon.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox