There's nobody with arms long enough to reach around his gut to unclip the hasp at the back of the belt?
Under those same rules Canelo should have been stripped as well. 2 fights in a row in 2 different weight classes. Of course it's obvious that that would never happen.
Two years out of the ring as of today. With no fight sceduled, and certainly not against a top5 opponent. No room for technicalities anymore. FREE UP THE RING BELT!
Jem Ward style situation. Pretty similar to the colorline actually. The tradition of the last lineal champion having the final say on who is the next lineal champion is older than the rule system itself and the sanctioning bodies. Back before sanctioning bodies, which I believe started in 1910, when a champion retired without being defeated the lineal title was literally handed over. You had to win a fight to be recognized as champion, but if you were the previous champion's chosen one and you didn't win the ex-champ could and would claim that fight was not a champion caliber fight. Jem Ward denied Deaf Burke the championship three times I think. If Burke had lost any of those fights the man who beat him would have been the champion, but since he won Ward declared the matches unfit and claimed he, Ward, was still the champion until a fighter fit for the title makes a claim. It was basically code for Burke has to beat every man I can find to put in front of him before I acknowledge him. In the end Burke ended up killing a man, whooping Jem's brother, and kicking Jem's ass too, but the champion had to be forced to recognize the new champ before the title could continue. That said, Fury not losing and still claiming the lineal status is all he needs to do to be the real champion. If he's willing to fight, his title was not lost in the ring, and he still claims to be the true champion. He has a more legitimate claim that goes back farther in the traditions of boxing than any current sanctioning bodies' belt. If anything Ring ought to be commended for keeping the tradition.
One of the rules is holder is stripped if he retires. We'll Fury has retired about 10times this year so strip him !
i dont buy the ring for 20 or so years now / with the advent of the internet it is 2 months out of date by the time we get it / as to there rankings they seem a year out of date.