Wladimir Klitschko May Dethrone Tyson Fury Without Even Fighting Him Again


Wladimir Klitschko is still reeling from losing his belts to Tyson Fury last weekend.

If you don’t believe that, just take a look at the poor guy’s Twitter account.

Clearly, it isn’t something that he’s come to terms with just yet. But if there was ever a consolation prize, it’s the fact that he may end up causing Fury to lose one of his belts without even fighting him again.

Apparently, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) is trying to throw weight around on whom Fury decides to fight next.

The IBF has put a demand on Fury that he fight mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov before taking a second bout against Wladimir Klitschko, who had held the IBF strap since 2006.

Using head-scratching logic (to most boxing analysts), the IBF has found that a man who successfully defended their belt 18 times is not in line for a mandatory rematch in spite of the fact that he lost by decision while suffering very little damage.

Yet in spite of that fact, and growing anger at the organization for even considering it, Yahoo! reports that they are prepared to pull the trigger.

Tyson Fury’s trainer and uncle, Peter Fury, has already gone on record calling the IBF’s threat a “disgrace.”

He also noted that the belt could end up in a trash can prior to them making that decision.

“If they want to take the belt from us in such pathetic and disgusting circumstances, that will result in a public and embarrassing display for the IBF, that’s for sure,” the elder Fury said, adding that his nephew hadn’t heard about the threat at the time of the interview but he would “hit the roof” when he did.

“It’s shocking news,” Fury continued. “I don’t think the IBF know what’s happening. When we did the Klitschko deal, they wanted a rematch clause, which is common practice when you’re dealing in major world title fights. He’s exercising that clause so there’s nothing we can do to satisfy the IBF. Tyson has to fight Klitschko.”

The only way out of the fight apparently, would be if Wladimir Klitschko decided to retire or perhaps delay his rematch clause. Because he’s not doing that, Tyson Fury is contractually obligated to fight him, making the Glazkov fight a no-go for now.

Perhaps understandably, Peter Fury believes the threat to strip is “totally unfair and unprofessional from the IBF.” He also wasn’t too happy that the IBF would make this threat a week after his nephew won the belt.

“It damages boxing as a whole,” Fury said, adding that the IBF should give them leeway in defending the belt against Wladimir Klitschko before focusing fully on Glazkov. He accused the organization of “holding us to ransom.”

“We’re happy to show the IBF the contract and if they can see a way out of it then we’ll face Glazkov first. But we know there isn’t,” he added.

Fury jeered the organization for expecting them to fight two people at the same time in order to meet both sets of demands. He also felt that the Klitschko camp, if they knew about it, should have said something ahead of time, “but I don’t know if they did.”

In the meantime, the IBF is looking at the possibility of putting Ukrainian unbeaten Glazkov (21-0-1) against American Charles Martin or Germany’s Erkan Teper to crown a new IBF champ if Fury is forced to vacate.

The winner of that fight, however, would have a hard time getting recognized as a legitimate major titleholder since they would have never won the belt from Tyson Fury or Wladimir Klitschko.

[Image via Wladimir Klitschko Twitter]

Share this article: Wladimir Klitschko May Dethrone Tyson Fury Without Even Fighting Him Again
More from Inquisitr