It was officially announced that Tyson Fury was stripped of his Ring Magazine title for failing to schedule a fight by a deadline of January 31.
The former unified world champion has been out of the ring since traveling to Germany to shockingly defeat Wladimir Klitschko in major upset in November 2015 to captured the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO, Ring heavyweight belts.
After that fight, Fury was quickly stripped of the IBF title for failing to make a mandatory defense against Czar Glazkov.
In 2016, Fury dropped the WBO, WBA, IBO titles in order to focus on his issues with depression and substance abuse.
Fury has recently reclaimed his license to box from the British Boxing Board of Control and began training for a planned ring return on a yet to be finalized date in April.
Even with the Ring title being taken away, Fury is still the lineal champion of the division because 'he beat the man who beat the man.'
"The Ring would like to make it clear that this decision had not been taken lightly. The Ring championship belt is the closest representation to a lineal champion in the sport today, and Tyson Fury was extremely proud to be part of our heavyweight history," the magazine said in a statement.
'We deeply regret separating from the lineal championship and we would hope that fans appreciate our reasons for giving Tyson every opportunity over the past two years. We wish our former champion the very best for the future and we will be happy to re-rank him when appropriate."
Ring also rejected the possibility of the vacant title being at stake in the upcoming heavyweight unification between Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker - which takes place for the WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA world titles on March 31 in Cardiff.
It appears that the vacant title would only be at stake when the Joshua-Parker winner collides with WBC champion Deontay Wilder (or Luis Ortiz if he wins on March 3).
"There have been occasions when a vacant Ring championship has been contested between No 1 and No 3 rated contenders," the magazine stated.
"However, after careful consideration, we do not feel Joshua-Parker qualifies. At this time, The Ring ratings panel unanimously believe that Deontay Wilder is the second-best heavyweight in the world on merit."