By Ruslan Chikov

The championship chairman for the International Boxing Federation, Lindsey Tucker, is expecting Wladimir Klitschko to make a mandatory defense of his IBF title against Alexander Povetkin. The fighters have until April 26 to reach an agreement before a purse bid is ordered.

Klitschko wants to fight WBA champion David Haye of England, but Tucker has not received a request for an exception. There is no guarantee the exception will be granted because Klitschko has not made an IBF mandatory defense since 2007. Klitschko stopped the IBF from making an interim-title fight with Povetkin and Samuel Peter because he promised to make a defense after beating [WBO mandatory] Eddie Chambers.

"All that I know, is that Team Klitschko and Povetkin are currently negotiating the fight. I do not know anything about Klitschko fighting David Haye. Our goal is to make a fight between Wladimir and Povetkin because we have waited too long for an official defense of our title. He has the right to request an exception but there is no guarantee that it's going to be granted," Tucker told Alexander Pavlov.

"Under his directive [Klitschko] we did not allow Povetkin to fight for a [IBF] interim-title, and he promised after the fight with Eddie Chambers, that he would fight Povetkin, and we expect for him to do so."

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingvester@gmail.com