The official judges’ scorecards for Oleksandr Usyk’s thrilling victory over Tyson Fury have been revealed.
Usyk earned a unanimous decision verdict to beat Fury for a second time, as judges Gerardo Martinez, Patrick Morley and Ignacio Robles all scored the bout 116-112 in favour of the Ukrainian.
@Queensberry on XThis was how Usyk and Fury’s second fight was scored by the three judges ringside[/caption]
Although the trio all ended with the same result, it is worth pointing out they could not agree on six different rounds.
Across the fight, the only rounds Martinez, Morley and Robles scored the same were the fifth, sixth, seventh, eight, 10th and 11th.
There had already been plenty of controversy about the selected judging panel before a punch had even been thrown.
Martinez, Morley and Miami’s Fernando Barbosa were initially picked as the three judges.
However, Barbosa fell ill at late notice and was unable to fly to Riyadh.
New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld and Panama’s Ignacio Robles jetted in to Saudi Arabia, although Fury and Usyk’s camps were split as to which judge would replace Barbosa.
Robles, who was Usyk’s preferred choice according to respect boxing report Keith Idec, was ultimately chosen in the end, but by a rather bizarre method – a coin toss.
Regardless of who was behind the scorecards, the result left a sour taste in the mouth of Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren.
“It’s nuts,” Warren said.
“Did you have him as only winning four rounds out of eight?
“Very harsh. It’s nuts. I don’t get it. But it is what it is, and we’ll see what happens in the future with Tyson.
“Tyson was dumbfounded. They gave him four rounds out of the 12, which is impossible.
“I’ve been around a long time and I know I’m biased, but one judge didn’t give him any rounds from round six onwards. Look! No rounds. How can that be? That’s impossible.
“Same with the other judge. They gave him one round in the last six, and the same here with this guy. It’s crazy. I’m calm and collected, I’m not screaming and shouting. That is nonsense.”
A penny for Warren’s reaction to the AI scorecard that was used for the first time.
The AI scorecard awarded Usyk the fight but by a significantly wider margin of 118-112.
DAZNThe AI scorecard prompted an X-rated response from Fury in his press conference[/caption]
However, the AI scorecard remained nothing more than an interesting background experiment.
It didn’t stop Fury from letting loose on the technology once he was informed of how the technology scored the contest during his post-fight press conference.
“S***. F*** all computers, keep humans,” Fury said.
“More jobs for humans, less jobs for computers.
“F*** electric cars too.”
The judging panel for Fury and Usyk’s rematch was completely different from the one who oversaw their first fight in May.
Spain’s Manuel Oliver Palomo, Canada’s Craig Metcalfe and Wisconsin’s Mike Fitzgerald judged the fight that time.
Metcalfe was the only one to score the fight in Fury’s favour as Palomo and Fitzgerald believed Usyk won, as the Ukrainian picked up a split decision victory.