Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury settle chaotic judge row in most bizarre way possible

Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury contain settled a row over who will judge their rematch – with a coin toss.

Puerto Rico’s Gerardo Martinez, Chicago’s Patrick Morley and Miami’s Fernando Barbosa were originally characteristic to rating the ancient conflict with Robert Ramirez Jr, also of Puerto Rico, picked as the referee.

Nonetheless, Barbosa used to be taken ill at leisurely seek and did not trot with the movement to Riyadh.

In consequence, each and every Steve Weisfeld of New Jersey and Panama’s Ignacio Robles flew to Saudi Arabia, with each and every camps reduce up on who would rob the vacant characteristic.

Now, according to esteemed boxing journalist Keith Idec, Robles will rating the battle after a coin toss early on Saturday morning.

It follows hours of impasse between the two opponents and the native fee in Saudi Arabia.

When requested by a fan on social media if Usyk’s crew got the judge they wished, Idec answered: “Ultimately, yes, though they would have been OK with Weisfeld as well. They did prefer Robles, to answer your question.”

Explaining the subject on Friday, promoter Frank Warren had instructed a coin toss might possibly possibly doubtless also settle the row.

Speaking to Sky Sports actions, he said: “There are two standby judges, both of them are flying in and we have got to decide which one of them it is going to be.

“We prefer one of them, Usyk’s crew prefer the diversified. So I contain instructed we flip a coin.”

The three judges obtained’t be the most uncomplicated ones scoring Saturday’s motion.

A fourth official, powered by artificial intelligence, will even post a scorecard as half of an experiment that just isn’t going to have an effect on the implications of the battle.

Announcing the news earlier this week, Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh wrote on X: “For the principle time ever, an AI-powered judge will computer screen the battle.

“Free from bias and human error brought to you by The Ring.

“This groundbreaking experiment, which obtained’t influence the official results, debuts during the greatest battle of the century, #Usyk2Fury, on December 21.”

The idea was mostly welcomed by boxing fans, who have been subjected to several dodgy decisions over the years.

In Usyk and Fury’s first fight in May, the Ukrainian edged the contest via split decision with the tight scorecards reading 115-112 to Usyk, 114-113 to Fury, and 114-113 to Usyk.

A standing eight count in the ninth round from Usyk, which was marked down as a 10-8 round on all three judges’ scorecards, proved decisive.

Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2 predictions and betting tips

The three men scoring the fight that night were Spain’s Manuel Oliver Palomo, Canada’s Craig Metcalfe, and Wisconsin’s Mike Fitzgerald.

Metcalfe was the only judge to score the fight in Fury’s favour.

The Gypsy King has changed his approach for the rematch by piling on the bulk.

While dressed in heavy clothes, he weighed in at 281lbs on Friday – which is 19lbs heavier than the first fight.

He will boast a whopping 55lb advantage over Usyk – who tipped the scales at 226lbs.

Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2 predictions and betting tips

Boxing commentator John Rawling told talkSPORT: “It suggests that he’s going to trot in there and try and work on Usyk terminate up and sap him with the real fact that Usyk’s got to somehow maintain that astronomical mass away.

“And I think early stages, Fury’s going to try and really put it on Usyk and sap his stamina and try and get an early advantage and maybe an even an early stoppage.

“What happened remaining time, if you occur to keep in mind the principle battle… Fury did in fact properly by rounds four, five and six.

“But from there on, Usyk started to gain control. He’s the supreme strategic strategist. He makes changes to his style when he needs to.”

talkSPORT will bring you reside commentary of Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday, December 21 with our protection kicking off from 7.30pm