Francis Ngannou thinks Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury’s rematch was closer than the judges had it.
Usyk got his hand raised via unanimous decision on Saturday night to record his second consecutive victory over ‘The Gypsy King’.
In their inaugural encounter back in May, the judges were split over who they thought won; with two judges scoring the fight in Usyk‘s favour by margins of 115-112 and 114-113, while the third judge had it for Fury 114-113.
But there was no such debate this time as all three judges turned in identical 116-112 scorecards for a Usyk win.
Anthony Joshua was also on hand to score the fight round-by-round for the DAZN broadcast and had Usyk winning narrowly by one point.
Ngannou, who has lost to both Joshua and Fury in the squared circle, believes this was a fairer and more accurate assessment than the one dished out by the judges.
“I would have scored the fight closer than that,” he told Pro Boxing Fans.
“Maybe Usyk could have still won. I mean, at the end of the fight, it wasn’t sure that anybody [was a clear winner].
“From my scorecard, it was closer than that.”
The three judges at ringside weren’t the only ones scoring the fight.
A fourth judge, powered by artificial intelligence, also submitted a scorecard as part of an experiment that did not impact the result of the contest.
The AI judge scored the fight even wider for Usyk at 118-112, which seemed harsh to most including Ngannou.
“No no, AI might be intelligent but AI doesn’t understand the sport properly,” he replied when asked if there is a place for AI judging in boxing.
“It’s a man sport, not a machine sport. I think AI, regardless of everything, is still a machine that operates automatically and scores based on some [information].
“I don’t think AI has all the specific or the data to score a boxing match.”
Fury wasn’t a fan of the AI judging himself and made his thoughts be known at the post-fight press conference.
“S***. F*** all computers, keep humans,” he said in an X-rated rant.
“More jobs for humans, less jobs for computers. F*** electric cars too.”
Boxing WhatsApp channel
Get the latest fight news, reaction and the best opinion from talkSPORT pundits in our Boxing WhatsApp channel.
Follow our Boxing channel HERE.