Vyacheslav Valerievich "The Czar" Glazkov

He wasn’t unlucky. He was awarded a title shot after losing to Malik Scott.

 

Not saying that he should have been ranked that high, but the Glazkov had another 7 fights before the vacant title fight.
Kinda funny how both Glazkov and Cunningham won a minor IBF trinket and the organization went: "YES! These two should fight for the mandatory spot." Meanwhile neither guy had beaten anyone in the top 10.
If you pay for the rankings, IBF will give them to ya. I guess.

 

Or you get favorable IBF rankings at heavyweight for holding the IBF cruiserweight championship.

 

I don´t quite remember. But Cunningham wasn´t the IBF champ when he moved up, and he then had two back to back losses. But he did beat Mansour for an IBF trinket, and I think Mansour was highly ranked at the time.

 

Being a former champion usually gets you in the rankings.