The World Boxing Council [WBC] has proposed some major changes to the historic Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk fight to ensure ‘there is no controversy’.
Fury, who holds the WBC title, takes on unified IBF, WBO and WBA champion Usyk on 18 May to crown the heavyweight division’s first undisputed champion in 25 years.
The bout was originally scheduled to take place on 17 February but was pushed back three months after Fury suffered a cut in sparring.
In a fight regarded as one of the biggest of all-time, the WBC are eager to increase the number of ringside judges. World title fights are usually scored by three ringside judges, but the sanctioning body’s president Mauricio Sulaiman believes as many as three more should be introduced, warning ‘controversy in a fight of this magnitude would be unacceptable’.
Sulaiman explained to Sky Sports he has recommended five or six officials be present to score Fury vs Usyk, adding: ‘That is my recommendation. We will see.
‘Boxing is a sport in which change is very difficult to get. We’re purists, traditionalists, we don’t want changes.
‘I will continue to make the proposal. Some like the idea, some of the people in the decision-making process. We will see.
‘We had proposed to use five judges, or six judges. However that was not considered. It did not happen. I would still recommend [it].
‘Anybody can have a bad night. If you have one judge have a bad night and the two others get it correct, you still save the fight.
‘You have two judges with a difficult fight and then one round can shift the whole result. But if you have more officials then the possibility of a wrong score goes to a minimum. But we will see.
‘That’s the only intention to make sure there’s no controversy. Now we have the biggest fight in 25 years in the heavyweight division. So we have to try to do our best.’
Sulaiman is also pushing for the introduction of video replays in boxing. As is the case with VAR in football, video technology could be used to pick up on refereeing errors, detecting low blows, headbutts or legitimate knockdowns if missed by the third man in the ring.
‘I believe it will happen, now that the fight has been postponed until May 18, three months from now, we will look into it,’ Sulaiman said.
‘The initial idea was to put together specific guidelines of the usage of instant replay and we’re in that process. So we’re going to work with the producers of the feed to see what equipment and what communications are needed, what the review panel will be, just go into details.’
He continued: ‘But the idea of having the possibility of reviewing a major controversial happening inside the ring, to make the right decision, the right call at the time is basically it.
‘To have the absolute certainty that there will not be a controversy. That in a fight of this magnitude would be absolutely unacceptable.’
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