By Felix Keith
Tyson Fury's much-anticipated heavyweight title fight against Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia could be decided by a new judging system.
Fury is due to fight Usyk as part of Riyadh Season on May 18 after the last date of February 17 was scrapped when the Gypsy King suffered a cut to his eye while sparring. That was the third delay to the bout, which is now finally on the horizon, provided no more stumbling blocks appear.
It will be a seminal moment in the history of boxing, with the winner becoming the first four-belt heavyweight world champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. There is a lot at stake, with the title and a rumoured £100million purse on the line, and one of the sport’s most influential figures wants to ensure the right result is reached.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman is petitioning for six judges to be in place for Fury vs Usyk, having been worried by recent decisions in the sport. Before Anthony Joshua beat Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia, there was another fight which sparked a backlash.
Featherweight Rey Vargas retained his WBC title against Nick Ball by split draw, despite Ball flooring his opponent in the eighth and 11th rounds. Sulaiman is therefore proposing a new way of officiating in order to mitigate such controversy.
“What we saw last week in Saudi Arabia [Ball v Vargas] was another example of how fragile officiating worldwide continues to be," he told Boxing Scene. “We saw one judge have it one way big and another judge having the other guy winning. Controversy like that in the Fury v Usyk fight will kill boxing."
Sulaiman plans to submit an emergency petition to the other governing bodies, the WBO, IBF and WBA. The idea is for there to be six judges to score the contest, with two stationed on three sides of the ring in order to cover all angles.
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He believes this could help 'minimise the effect' of poor scoring, but such a fundamental change to the scoring will be difficult to bring into effect, because it will need the unanimous approval of all involved.
"Fights, especially those at this highest level, deserve this and so I’m putting forward this proposal now to all sanctioning bodies, promoters and fighters,” Sulaiman added. “It has to be something we all agree on."
The judges in the Vargas v Ball fight scored it 116-119 to Ball, 114-112 to Vargas and 113-113, meaning the fight ended in a split-decision draw. "I had two knockdowns and was putting the pressure on for the whole fight. I was the aggressor and thought I did enough to win it," Ball told Dazn. "It's a bit frustrating but that's how it is. I can't get angry at it."
"Nick Ball should be a world champion tonight and will no doubt be in the very near future," his promoter Frank Warren said. He will have to wait, but his fight could end up having a huge impact on the sport of boxing.