Tyson Fury’s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk will feature a fourth judge utilising artificial intelligence, although their score will not contribute to the official result.
The heavyweight rivals are set to meet again in Riyadh on Saturday night, following Usyk’s victory over Fury in May. And if the sequel follows the first fight in going the full 12-round distance, an AI official will offer their score.
Saudi boxing chief Turki 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.”
In their initial bout, Fury was leading until the ninth round when Usyk took control and ultimately won on two of the three judges’ scorecards. Despite being the underdog for the rematch, Fury remains confident, stating: “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,”.
“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.”
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