Tyson Fury has been stripped of his International Boxing Federation (IBF) title in less than two weeks after winning it.
"It's true he's been stripped of his IBF belt. Our challenger was Vyacheslav Glazkov, but instead Fury's gone and signed a rematch clause with Wladimir Klitschko," Lindsey Tucker, championship chairman at the IBF, said according to a report by BBC Sport.
Fury beat Klitschko, who had been IBF champion for almost a decade, claiming three versions of the heavyweight crown.
The heavyweight champion had to agree to fight the IBF's mandatory challenger Glazkov but will instead face Klitschko in a rematch.
Klitschko announced last week that he would take up the option of rematch with the Manchester fighter.
"First I was surprised that the IBF sent us a letter telling us of a 30-day negotiating period and then the next day [Tuesday] they tell us there is no negotiating period and it will go straight to a purse bid," Mick Hennessy, Fury's promoter, said according to ESPN.
"They shouldn't be doing that and as far as I'm concerned if they want to hustle and bully Tyson into fighting Glazkov, Tyson will end up putting the belt in the bin at a major press conference."
"If they force Tyson to fight Glazkov, it will not happen. Glazkov means nothing, he has zero value," Hennessy continued.
Glazkov is a Ukranian Olympic medalist that has 21-0-1 in his record according to Bloody Elbow. He beat Steve Cunningham in March.
Glaskov will now face NABO champ named Charles Martin for the IBF title.
"Glazkov will not get in the way of a rematch with Klitschko, if Wladimir wants a rematch. The rematch clause takes precedence over everything else and that's the biggest fight in the division.
After being stripped of the IBF title, Tyson Fury will retain its WBA and WBO versions of the heavyweight title while American Deontay Wilder holds the WBC belt.
