By Keith Idec

Vyacheslav Glazkov has performed inconsistently during his televised fights over the past two years, but Steve Cunningham took notice of Glazkov’s most noteworthy win.

Cunningham called Glazkov’s victory over Tomasz Adamek from ringside a year ago in Bethlehem, Pa., and walked away from that NBC Sports broadcast impressed by the former Ukrainian Olympian. In December 2012, Cunningham lost a second 12-round split decision to Adamek in that same Sands Casino Resort ring.

“I thought he did a darn good job,” said Cunningham, who’ll fight Glazkov on Saturday night in Montreal. “I thought he did very well. I was the color commentator on that fight, so Glazkov showed a lot. I stated on the [broadcast] it was like the old lion getting beat by the young lion. It was a very entertaining fight. He showed heart. He even dug deep. Adamek did come on heavy those last two rounds to show he was the champion, but before that Glazkov bagged so many rounds that it was inevitable that he was going to get the nod. So I thought he did a great job.”

Glazkov (19-0-1, 12 KOs) beat Adamek (49-4, 29 KOs) by big margins on all three scorecards in their 12-round fight last March 15 (117-110, 117-111, 116-112). Adamek was 37 when they fought, eight years older than Glazkov.

“You have to factor that in, also,” Cunningham said regarding Adamek’s age and penchant for absorbing punishment. “Adamek has been in war after war after war and his defense is getting punched. He never did really block punches or slip punches. The thing about Adamek was he ate punches, but he took it and he gave back just as much as what he received. After he fought Vitali [Klitschko], people would say he was basically beat up to the point it was only a matter of time. So when Glazkov got to him, he was already damaged goods. But I don't want to diminish the victory that Glazkov had against him. You know, Adamek is still a formidable heavyweight. He could beat most of those heavyweights out there, so Glazkov beat a top ten heavyweight in Adamek.”

Cunningham (28-6, 13 KOs) is 38, also eight years older than Glazkov. The winner of their scheduled 12-round fight Saturday night at Bell Centre will become the IBF’s mandatory challenger for the winner of the April 25 championship bout between champion Wladimir Klitschko (63-3, 53 KOs) and Bryant Jennings (19-0, 10 KOs).

It’ll be the second of three fights televised by HBO as part of “World Championship Boxing” tripleheader scheduled to start at 9:45 p.m. ET.

In the 12-round main event, Russia’s Sergey Kovalev (26-0-1, 23 KOs) is slated to defend his IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight titles against Jean Pascal (29-2-1, 17 KOs, 1 NC), of nearby Laval, Quebec. South Africa’s Isaac Chilemba (23-2-2, 10 KOs) and Russia’s Vasily Lepikhin (17-0, 9 KOs) are set to go at it in a 12-round light heavyweight bout that’ll start the telecast.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.