Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk rematch to have fourth judge – but there’s a twist
Tyson Fury will attempt to avenge his defeat by Oleksandr Usyk when the heavyweights meet in a rematch in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night
Tyson Fury’s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk will feature a fourth judge using artificial intelligence as the Brit seeks revenge for his May defeat by Usyk in the Riyadh ring on Saturday night.
Saudi boxing chief, Turki Alalshikh, revealed that a fourth official will score the fight – but it will NOT count towards the official result, which will still be determined by three ringside judges if the bout goes the full 12 rounds. Alalshikh announced on social media: “For the first time ever, an AI-powered judge will monitor the fight.
“Free from bias and human error brought to you by The Ring. This groundbreaking experiment, which won’t impact the official results, debuts during the biggest fight of the century, #Usyk2Fury, on December 21. Don’t miss history in the making.”
Fury was defeated by Usyk in their first encounter in May after a match of two halves. The Brit controlled the undisputed clash until the ninth round when the Ukrainian took over. Usyk went on to win on two of the judges’ scorecards while the third favored Fury. Usyk is the favorite going into the rematch which will see three of the four world titles at stake. However, Fury insists he doesn’t need to alter his strategy to become a three-time champion, reports the Mirror.
“I’m just going to use my boxing, like I did last time. I’m not going to do anything drastic, like a total change of gameplan because it’s not needed,” he stated. “If it was five, six or seven rounds the opposite way and it was a landslide, then fine. Then I’d have to change something drastically. But because it was a very close fight, I don’t really need to change much. I just need to be a little bit more focused and that’s it really. Why would I change something when I had control of the fight for maybe 80 per cent of it? “.
“I’m landing on him at will, head and body, lead right uppercuts, left hooks, right hooks to the body. Doubles at times. I don’t feel I need to change anything. I don’t think Usyk will change either because his key to victory has to be coming forward. He ain’t going to outbox me on the back foot. It’s not possible. So he has to come forward and make a fight of it.”
