Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury 2: coin flip decides last minute change

On By Littum

Boxing - Oleksandr Usyk v Tyson Fury - Heavyweight World Title - Weigh-in - Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - December 20, 2024 Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury during the weigh-in REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury at the weigh-in for their rematch. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

A coin toss has decided one of the three judges for Saturday’s Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury rematch just hours before the pair are scheduled to lace up the gloves for their big heavyweight title fight.

Puerto Rico’s Gerardo Martinez, Chicago’s Patrick Morley and Miami’s Fernando Barbosa were originally selected as the panel to score Usyk vs. Fury 2, but Barbosa reportedly fell ill during fight week and was unable to make the trip to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Usyk and Fury will go head to head for the WBA, WBC and WBO titles.

Due to Barbosa’s withdrawal, Panama’s Ignacio Robles and New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld were flown in as potential replacements. Weisfeld was believed to have landed the gig, but a coin flip early Saturday afternoon has determined that Robles will be the third referee for Usyk-Fury tonight.

Uncrowned’s Keith Idec was first with the news.

Barbosa’s appointment to the panel was initially controversial. The American judge also serves as broadcaster for ESPN KnockOut and senior vice president of Disney Latin America; Disney is the parent company of ESPN. Although ESPN will not broadcast the rematch, it has an exclusive content deal with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., which co-promotes Fury with Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions.

As well as commentating on the action from ringside, he is also more directly involved in some boxing events. Barbosa is responsible for acquiring licensing rights to boxing matches broadcast throughout Latin America, a role that involves regularly dealing with promoters to negotiate television rights deals, a troubling business relationship for a referee to have.

Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) defends his WBA, WBC and WBO titles against Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Usyk reached a split decision over Fury to win the undisputed heavyweight title in May. The Ukrainian became the first fighter to hold all four heavyweight belts, becoming a two-division undisputed champion in the process.

Uncrowned will have live round-by-round coverage of the entire card.