World heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, has been stripped of his International Boxing Federation (IBF) title less than two weeks after winning it.
The IBF is one of four major organisations recognised by the IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.
Fury beat Ukrainian veteran, Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf, on points on November 28 to claim three of those titles.
Alongside the IBF, the Briton also holds the WBA and WBO titles while the WBC belt is held by American Deontay Wilder.
The 27-year-old Fury was stripped after he agreed to a rematch with Klitschko instead of the IBF’s mandatory challenger, Vyacheslav Glazkov.
Lindsey Tucker, championships chairman at the IBF, told BBC Sport: “It’s true he’s been stripped of his IBF belt.”
He added: “Our challenger was Vyacheslav Glazkov, but instead Fury’s gone and signed a rematch clause with Wladimir Klitschko.”
Peter Fury, the champion’s uncle and trainer, said at the time: “If they want to take the belt from us in such pathetic and disgusting circumstances, that will result in a public and embarrassing display for the IBF. That’s for sure.”
There is more trouble for the champ as Greater Manchester Police have confirmed that they were launching a hate crime investigation into Fury’s comments on homosexuality.
The controversial boxer was criticised for views in the lead-up to his fight against Klitschko, however he has always denied making several homophobic comments.
This came after controversial comments in the Mail on Sunday in which he said: “There are only three things that need to be accomplished before the devil comes home.
“One of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other is paedophilia. Who would have thought in the 50s and 60s that those first two would be legalised?”
Challenged about his comments, Fury then said in the interview on BBC Radio 2 this week: “Homosexuality, abortion and paedophilia – them three things need to be accomplished before the world finishes. That’s what the Bible tells me.”
