Final Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury judge confirmed as coin toss settles rival camps' dispute
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The third and final judge for Tyson Fury’s fight against Olekansdr Usyk on Saturday night has been decided… by a coin toss. Fury is set to face off against Usyk in a hotly-anticipated fight in Riyadh in a repeat of the first clash back seven months ago when the Ukrainian handed the Gypsy King his first defeat. Everything has been carefully planned for the blockbuster occasion, apart from the all important judges after a late change of plan.
The three judges were supposed to be Gerardo Martinez of Puerto Rico and American duo Pat Morley and Fernando Barbosa. But the fight was thrown into confusion in the build-up after Barbosa pulled out, having been deemed too ill to fly to Saudi Arabia.
Two possible replacements were flown into Riyadh – Panama’s Ignacio Robles and America’s Steve Weisfeld – but there was initially no agreement on who would score the fight. Now, in a remarkable turn of events, Robles was selected by the toss of a coin, which was seen by a member of the Fury and Usyk camp on Saturday.
That represents an early win for Usyk, who had wanted Robles to join Martinez and Morley ringside on Saturday night. Speaking to Sky Sports on Friday, promoter Frank Warren had suggested a coin toss could settle the row. He said: "There are two standby judges, both of them are flying in and we have got to decide which one of them it is going to be. We want one of them, Usyk's team want the other. So I have suggested we flip a coin.".
