Just hours away from their huge heavyweight rematch this Saturday, Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury are locked in discussions over a change in the judging panel.
Last May, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk collided in one of the biggest fights in heavyweight boxing history as they fought to a close split decision.
Although the judges' scorecards were not a controversial topic during their opening meeting, the judges have become a big part of their rematch this Saturday and have led to a last-minute row between the two camps.
Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images
Judge falls ill when Frank Warren suggests a coin to determine the replacement judge
Gerardo Martinez (Puerto Rico), Patrick Morley (Chicago) and Fernando Barbosa (Miami) were scheduled to judge one of the biggest fights in the history of the sport. However, Barbosa did not travel to Riyadh after falling ill.
Steve Weisfeld (New Jersey) was called in as a replacement at short notice and would take his place on the jury table on Saturday evening.
However, Ignacio Robles is also reportedly flying to Saudi Arabia to fill the vacant role, which has led to a row between Fury and Usyk's teams.
Both teams currently favor different judges, which has led to a dispute over who will intervene. Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions has suggested that the two teams have a coin toss with the winner getting the deciding vote.
“There are two standby judges, they're both flying in and we have to decide which one it's going to be,” Warren told Sky Sports.
“We want one and Usyk's camp wants the other, so I suggested we toss a coin. This is being resolved. Use a little common sense, and actually both camps are very professional and know what to do,” he continued.
The history of judging by Steve Weisfeld and Ignacio Robles
Weisfeld is considered an experienced judge in the game, having judged more than 2,000 fights. He has a history of judging both 'The Gypsy King's' and Usyk's fights, scoring the Ukrainian's first fight against Anthony Joshua 116-112 in favor of Usyk.
The New Jersey native scored Fury's second and third fights against Deontay Wilder, but of course his scorecards were not required.
Robles, on the other hand, has only rated 743 fights and is therefore considered less experienced than his counterpart.
However, the three judges won't be the only ones judging the fight on the night, as Turki Alalshikh announced that an AI judge will also score the card, free from human bias.
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The AI judge will obviously have no influence on the official results and will be used as an experiment as the consensus 'Savior of Boxing' continues to look for ways to improve the sport.
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