Tyson Fury had a predictably incendiary response to how the artificial intelligence-powered judge scored him after defeat to Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday evening.
It was announced earlier this week that AI would play a key role in the scoring of the highly anticipated fight as part of a ‘groundbreaking experiment’ aimed to create ‘history in the making’.
But the Gypsy King had little time for the trailblazing innovation after losing by unanimous decision when he stepped in the ring with the Ukrainian for the second time this year.
When the Briton learned how the computers had adjudicated his efforts, Fury was less than impressed.
‘F*** all computers,’ Fury said. ‘More jobs for humans.’
Saudi fight impresario Turki Alalshikh lauded the launch of the technology ahead of the fight for ‘revolutionising boxing’ and talked up how ‘fair’ the new system would prove.
Tyson Fury had a fiery retort for the score from the artificial intelligence-powered judge
The British fighter was once again downed by his Ukrainian counterpart in their hyped rematch
The AI judge – a ‘history-making’ choice from the event’s organisers – scored the fight 118-112 in Usyk’s favour
With the final bell in Riyadh, the AI judge deemed Usyk to have won the fight 118-112, with Usyk taking the third, fourth, and sixth to 11th rounds.
Fury was the victor by the AI’s measure in the second and fifth rounds, with the fighters drawing at the start and at the finish.
The three human judges all scored the bout 116-112 in Usyk’s favour, helping the southpaw to retain is undisputed status first claimed in May.
But when asked for his thoughts on the scorecards in the immediate aftermath of the clash, Fury seemed to believe a different picture.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the fight, he said: ‘I swear to God, I thought I won by three rounds!’
In conversation with ESPN, he added: ”I thought I won the fight again, I was Larry Holmesed again. I was on the front foot the entire time. When you don’t get the knockout, this is what can happen.’
On the canvas after the fight, Usyk seemed bemused when he was asked if he thought he deserved to have his hand raised.
‘I win,’ Usyk said simply, before he was later called out by heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois.
Away from Riyadh, Anthony Joshua was widely pilloried for his own scorecard, which gave the fight 115-14 to Usyk.
The 35-year-old had given Fury five rounds of the contest and Usyk six, while he determined the final round to be a draw.
In the immediate aftermath of the clash, Fury thought he was the winner ‘by three rounds’
But after Usyk’s hand was raised the Briton beat a hasty exit from the ring away from the crowd
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren was also disappointed with how the fight had been scored by both human and non-human adjudicators
Fans following along questioned what fight Joshua was watching, with one claiming the star was still ‘dizzy’ following his knock-out loss to Dubois in September.
Frank Warren, Fury’s promoter, also said that he ‘dumbfounded’ by the judges’ decision.
‘They gave him four rounds out of the 12, which is impossible,’ Warren said. ‘I’ve been around a long time and I know I am biased, but one judge didn’t give him any rounds from round six onwards.
‘How can that be? That’s impossible. It’s crazy. I’m calm and collected, I’m not screaming and shouting, but that is nonsense.’
