Lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury vacates world titles. It’s news that has caused a huge fragmentation in the heavyweight boxing division straight off the bat.

Tyson Fury Vacates World Titles

Over recent days and indeed weeks, mounting speculation had been building that Fury could be stripped of some or all of his belts.

This or perhaps he could even be made a champion in recess by some of the world boxing governing bodies during the time it would take for him to recover from his current mental health issues.

Neither of these things happened in the end however.

Fury announced via his official promoter’s website Hennessy Sports last night that he has voluntarily vacated all of his titles.

He has done so to concentrate on his recovery and medical health at this time.

This will now leave a big gap at the top of the heavyweight division without for the time being. But there are some intriguing clashes that could be made as a result of the belts now been available to contest again.

The Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko fight almost surely looks like it will happen now. There is a very good chance it could be a heavyweight unification match as a result of the above news.

Andy Ruiz Jr vs Joseph Parker for the WBO belt has also already been tabbed as a potential title title fight.

With so many contenders fighting for the right to get a chance at one of these belts, expect a lot of back and forth negotiations over these coming weeks.

The heavyweight division will really ignite with action into 2017 now.

Big name fighters, established names and emerging contenders all around the world are all going to find themselves in the mix over the next six to twelve months.

Expect a lot of changes to the top 15 rankings in the respective governing bodies’ lists every month. Interesting times for the heavyweight division.