Tyson Fury’s rumoured bout with Francis Ngannou has prompted discussions within the sport about whether Fury should be stripped of his WBC title.
Fury has not made a mandatory defence of his belt since defeating Dillian Whyte in April 2022 and if a contest with Ngannou is confirmed, his next defence likely won’t come until 2024.
Earlier this year, Fury was involved in lengthy negotiations to take part in an undisputed battle with Oleksandr Usyk.
Those talks went nowhere and now Usyk will now defend his world titles against Daniel Dubois on August 26 with Fury now seeking an alternative opponent, possibly Ngannou.
Despite that fight likely to be fought under exhibition conditions, Eddie Hearn doesn’t believe Fury should be stripped of his world title.
“Should he be stripped of his WBC title? Probably not, but you should have a mandatory,” said Hearn when speaking to IFLTV.
“I mean, the rules state in the WBC, I believe, that every 12 months, there’s a mandatory challenger, and the last mandatory challenger was Dillian Whyte.
“So I don’t see why he [Fury] shouldn’t have a mandatory, especially when he’s fighting Francis Ngannou, but I don’t think you can blame Tyson Fury for making a load of money to fight Francis Ngannou.”