Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury will face off again in a heavyweight title fight on Dec. 21. This rematch comes after their controversial split decision in May, where Usyk won but some fans and experts thought Fury should have taken it.
The fight's organizer, Turki Alalshikh, plans to shake things up by introducing an AI-powered judging system. While it won't affect the official scorecards, the AI will provide its own scorecard to compare with the human judges.
Eddie Hearn, the big-name boxing promoter from Matchroom Boxing, shared his thoughts on this new tech. He's all for improving how fights are scored.
"Anything we can do to evolve, anything we can do to improve scoring..."
Hearn's not sure exactly how the AI will work, but he's got some ideas:
"I'm guessing it's in relation to some CompuBox stats or some sensory stats. But you can bet your life that if [Turki Alalshikh] is behind it, it's not gonna just be some geeza tapping a button."
The promoter thinks comparing the AI's scores to the official ones could stir up some drama:
"I think it will be interesting to see the difference. Don't be surprised if Saturday's controversial. Any close fight, let's hope the judging is bang on."
The heavyweight title fight between Usyk and Fury is set for Dec. 21. With the new AI system in play, it's sure to be a night that gets people talking – both about the fight and the future of boxing judging.
