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The hotly-anticipated rematch between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk is embroiled in a new dispute, just one day before the two heavyweight giants take to the ring.
It was announced on Friday that a change had been made to the judging panel, with judge Fernando Barbosa unable to travel to Riyadh for Saturday night’s fight due to illness. New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld looked set to step in as his replacement, but it has now emerged that two officials have been flown in to replace Barbosa.
The rival camps are now split on which of those two judges should be used to judge the fight, with the commission needing to find a solution to the dispute quickly as anticipation for the fight builds.
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It has now been reported by Sky Sports News that Fury’s promoter Frank Warren has suggested a coin toss to settle the issue.
In their first clash in May, Usyk claimed victory via split decision, with scores of 114-113 from Mike Fitzgerald and 115-112 from Manuel Oliver Palomo in his favour, while Craig Metcalfe scored it 114-113 to Fury. But now ‘The Gypsy King’ has vowed to right the wrongs of the first bout and knock his opponent out in the ring in the rematch.
“I’ve always been a bad man my whole life, and I’m still one today at nearly 40 years old, a few years off 40,” he said in the build-up to the fight. “I’m going to go in there with destroy mode. Last time, I went to box him, I was being cautious.
“Anybody can get caught as we have seen in a lot of these heavyweight fights. But this time I’m not going for a points decision. I’m going to knock him out.”