Wilder's next opponent ...

[saintpat]

Are you saying Frans Botha and Michael Grant are about the same level of opposition as =

I literally have to google this hold on

"Eric Molina and Johann Duhaupas"?

Molina, probably not, but most every champion takes an easy first title defense.

Duhaupas was coming off a win over Charr (an opponent often cited as one of the big wins for Povetkin) and a very competitive, toe-to-toe, close loss to Teper. He's as legit as Botha and WAY more durable than Grant, who crumbled whenever any decent fighter looked at him hard.

If Wilder fights four heavyweight title fights in 12 months, that's a good thing. And if two of those are Stiverne and Glazkov, that's a pretty decent year by any standard.

[Scipio2009]

... Czar Glazkov is, i believe, IBF mandatory challenger to Wladimir Klitschko

[Bram]

I'm sure Glazkov's team would favour his chances against Wilder more than Klitschko if they had their choice.

[SN!PER]

lol that article:

"Wilder, the 30-year-old World Boxing Council heavyweight champion, hopes to fight in New York in mid-January against a WBC top 15-ranked opponent, and if that happens it would mark his fourth heavyweight championship fight in a year’s span.

If he wins, it will be the first time a heavyweight champion has won four title fights in the span of a year since Lennox Lewis in 1999-2000."

as if his last 2 fights really qualify as "title fights"

The Bronze Bomber, breaking faces and breaking records, one bum at a time.

[saintpat]

... Czar Glazkov is, i believe, IBF mandatory challenger to Wladimir Klitschko

The math is pretty simple:

Wlad is fighting Fury.

If he wins, he can step around Glazkov and unify against Wilder (or Povetkin or whoever has the WBC strap at that time). Unification fights trump mandatories.

Hence, Glaz might be waiting a year or more for Wlad ... who might retire by then anyway, and there wouldn't be nearly as much money in fighting for a vacant title as there would be for an established guy like Wlad.

Or ...

He gets his mandatory sometime next year. And as the mandatory challenger, he gets 30 percent of the purse bid.

If he takes the Wilder fight, he probably gets a decent payday, a better shot at winning a title and if he does then he gets 50 percent of a much bigger purse to unify against Wlad (or Fury, whatever).

It all adds up.

[BrometheusBob.]

I'll probably be pushing my live boxing budget as it is to see Quillin/Jacobs, so I probably won't see this fight in person.

Hopefully he picks an actual live body.

[BWC]

I actually agree and I think they were TRYING to get Arreola a shot, but he could never put together a really nice win. He's looked horrible for the last two years now and I expect him to beat Travis Kauffman, but if he loses it won't be a giant upset.

They would like Arreola but Chris looks totally shot. There is no way he can fight Wilder..

[BWC]

The math is pretty simple:

Wlad is fighting Fury.

If he wins, he can step around Glazkov and unify against Wilder (or Povetkin or whoever has the WBC strap at that time). Unification fights trump mandatories.

Hence, Glaz might be waiting a year or more for Wlad ... who might retire by then anyway, and there wouldn't be nearly as much money in fighting for a vacant title as there would be for an established guy like Wlad.

Or ...

He gets his mandatory sometime next year. And as the mandatory challenger, he gets 30 percent of the purse bid.

If he takes the Wilder fight, he probably gets a decent payday, a better shot at winning a title and if he does then he gets 50 percent of a much bigger purse to unify against Wlad (or Fury, whatever).

It all adds up.

Czar is never ever going to fight for Wlad's belts I think he realizes that now. Best bet is to fight Wilder..

[Scipio2009]

The math is pretty simple:

Wlad is fighting Fury.

If he wins, he can step around Glazkov and unify against Wilder (or Povetkin or whoever has the WBC strap at that time). Unification fights trump mandatories.

Hence, Glaz might be waiting a year or more for Wlad ... who might retire by then anyway, and there wouldn't be nearly as much money in fighting for a vacant title as there would be for an established guy like Wlad.

Or ...

He gets his mandatory sometime next year. And as the mandatory challenger, he gets 30 percent of the purse bid.

If he takes the Wilder fight, he probably gets a decent payday, a better shot at winning a title and if he does then he gets 50 percent of a much bigger purse to unify against Wlad (or Fury, whatever).

It all adds up.

The WBC, WBA, and IBF are all working together, to streamline the process in working mandatory defenses.

Klitschko-Fury is due for November; it's highly unlikely that Wladimir would then be able to be ready for a mid-January date, the date that Team Wilder seem to have a TV date penciled in for.

With the title unification opportunity put off until April/May, Klitschko would likely have to settle his mandatory or be stripped of the belt.

[saintpat]

The WBC, WBA, and IBF are all working together, to streamline the process in working mandatory defenses.

Klitschko-Fury is due for November; it's highly unlikely that Wladimir would then be able to be ready for a mid-January date, the date that Team Wilder seem to have a TV date penciled in for.

With the title unification opportunity put off until April/May, Klitschko would likely have to settle his mandatory or be stripped of the belt.

I'm not talking mandatory in January.

I'm talking about it happening later in the year. Glaz would have to wait. Unification trumps mandatory.