Oleksandr Usyk maintained his unbeaten record against Tyson Fury – leaving the Gypsy King fuming at judge’s scorecards.
Fury fell to his second defeat of the year against the 37-year-old in a money-spinning Saudi Arabian battle to put a further blemish on his previously sterling boxing record, as Usyk defended his WBA, WBO and WBC belts following a unanimous points decision from the judges, with Fury left frustrated – saying afterwards that he felt he won by three rounds. However as well as failing to convince the judges with his showing in the ring, pioneering artificial intelligence technology also gave Usyk victory.
The scorecards all showed 116-112 in Usyk’s favour in a close contest the Ukrainian ultimately outperformed his rival in, but AI suggested an even greater margin of victory for Fury’s opponent – scoring the fight 118-112. The fourth judge had no bearing on the result, but Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh pushed what has been called a ‘ground-breaking experiment’ to revolutionise the sport – with the tech tested on its biggest stage yet.
However Fury, who could now fight Anthony Joshua, was far from impressed, firing out an X-rated reply when asked for his take on the system’s scorecard. He said: “By the review of that it’s absolutely s***. Here’s one, f*** all computers, keep all the humans going. More jobs for humans less jobs for computers. And f*** electric cars too whilst we’re at it.”
Ahead of the bout between Fury and Usyk, Alalshikh promoted the experimental use of AI, after the first fight was won via split-decision. He said: “For the first time ever, an AI-powered judge will monitor the fight. Free from bias and human error. A similar sentiment was expressed in a video he shared: “For years boxing has been defined by its glory but sometimes that glory is clouded by doubt and controversy. Isn’t it time for fairness to step into the ring?
The promotion added “This isn’t just AI, it’s revolutionizing boxing. It’s fairness powered by technology and human expertise.”