THE lineal heavyweight title was supposed to restore a bit of integrity and clarity to a division flooded by alphabet titles. It was meant to narrow it all down to just one champion. It was meant to make the whole picture clearer, easier to understand.

Yet, in the hands of Tyson Fury, it has done nothing of the sort.

Instead, what seems to have happened it that the lineal heavyweight title has become little more than an invisible stick with which Fury can beat the other champions, the ones in possession of actual belts, as well as a label attached to fights void of relevance.