Tyson Fury vacates all titles

Tyson Fury is now officially a former champion of the world. With multiple sanctioning bodies on the cusp of stripping him for twice pulling out of a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko and then testing positive for cocaine, Fury has decided to voluntarily vacate his WBO, WBA, and IBO titles.

Here is a statment Fury released about his decision, captured by RingTV:

“I feel that it is only fair and right and for the good of boxing to keep the titles active and allow the other contenders to fight for the vacant belts that I proudly won and held,” Fury said in a statement. “I won the titles in the ring and I believe that they should be lost in the ring, but I’m unable to defend at this time and I have taken the hard and emotional decision to now officially vacate my treasured world titles and wish the next in-line contenders all the very best as I now enter another big challenge in my life, which I know, like against Klitschko, I will conquer.”

Now that Fury is out of play for the foreseeable future, advanced talks for an Wladimir Klitschko-Anthony Joshua fight could have more than just Joshua’s IBF title on the line. That WBA belt is now officially up for grabs and Klitschko is currently rated #2 by the sanctioning body.