By Tim Royner: In an utterly predictable move, Tyson Fury has been stripped of his Ring Magazine heavyweight title and dropped from that organization’s top 10 heavyweight rankings. Fury, 29, had until midnight on Wednesday to schedule a fight against a top heavyweight in the top 5 of their rankings.
That was never going to happen given Fury’s conditioning and long 2-year period of inactivity. With the Ring title now stripped the unbeaten Fury (25-0, 18 KOs), he has lost an important bargaining chip to use in a fight with IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in the future.
Fury had this to say on Thursday about being stripped of his Ring Magazine heavyweight title:
“Just like to thank Ring Magazine for being so patient with me over the last few years. This will be the first time since 1922 that the Ring Magazine will split from the heavyweight lineage. Tyson Fury, always setting precedence’s.”
If Fury had been allowed to keep the Ring title, he could argue that he’s still a world champion and deserving of a 50-50 split of the purse for the Joshua fight. Fury can still get a good spit of the revenue for a fight with AJ, but he’s going to need to get busy with his career and get a few good wins under his belt for him to try and bargain with Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn for a bigger or eventual purse.
As for the Ring heavyweight title, it will remain vacant and WON’T be on the line for the March 31st unification fight between the unbeaten 28-year-old Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) and WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. It’s likely the Ring title will be put on the line for Joshua vs. WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder fight in the future. That fight could happen this year. Hearn is saying that negotiations will start immediately for the Joshua-Wilder fight after the Parker fight is done on March 31st. If Joshua loses to Parker, then the Wilder fight won’t take place for him. The Ring title would be on the line for a fight between Parker and Wilder in an undisputed title fight.
It appears that Fury isn’t ready to get back into the ring yet to continue his career. He still must drop more weight, work on his conditioning, and find opponent to make his comeback against. It’s unclear whether Fury will fight in April or a later date. It’s possible that Fury could face someone picked out at the last second and thrown into the ring with him in a hurried comeback fight. It would be better for Fury if his management announces his next opponent well ahead of time so that they can make good money off the fight.
If Fury is going to fight in April like he’s been talking about, then they’ll need to name his opponent soon, so they can have plenty of time to market the contest.
You can argue that Ring Magazine should have stripped Fury of his heavyweight title ages ago, because he’s not defended it since he won the strap in November 2015 in beating Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf, Germany. That was the last time Fury fought. For the Ring Magazine title to remain prestigious, it needs to be defended at least on annual basis. Fury has been sitting on the Ring title for over 2 years now without defending it. Ring Magazine has been very patient with Fury in letting him keep his heavyweight title with their organization this long.
