06 June 2024 , 07:55
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WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman wants the rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury to have six judges instead of the usual three.
Usyk beat Fury by split decision to unify the heavyweight division last month and a rematch is set to take place on December 21. The judges scored the fight 115-112, 113-114 and 114-113 in favour of Usyk.
Fury disagreed with the decision, insisting: "I believe I won that fight, I think he won a few if those rounds but I won the majority of them. His country is at war, so people are siding with the country at war.
"Make no mistake, I won that fight in my opinion. I've had a split decision loss with a little man. Good luck, God bless you." And Sulaiman has suggested the number of judges should be doubled for the rematch between the pair.
"I will campaign for the WBC fights to those who are eligible, and we are going to start doing it. it came down to the other organisations and the promoters not supporting the idea so we will do it as usual in the WBC fights," Sulaiman told Casino Reviews.
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"We have done a few in Mexico and will continue doing so in WBC fights and we will monitor it and see how things go. It was a very close fight. It came down to the 11th round and it was scored in favour of Oleksandr Usyk by two judges, one of them in Mike Fitzgerald and Mike Metcalfe scored it in favour of Tyson Fury.
"So, if Metcalfe scored it for Usyk rather than Fury it would've been a unanimous decision for Usyk. If Fitzgerald had scored it to Fury then he would've won the fight so the rounds were very close, that one in particular. A huge left hand at the end of the round by Usyk was a statement.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman wants to double the number of judges for the rematch (Luis Barron / Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images)"Scoring is subject, it's a complicated task but I believe a split decision win for Usyk is more than fair and acceptable. Our position is to always have the best possibilities to avoid a controversy and that's why we wanted six judges."
Sulaiman made the same suggestion before the first fight, but Fury's American promoter Bob Arum quickly shut down the idea. "You don't put in something like that for the first time dealing with a major fight from the standpoint of visibility and importance," Arum told Boxing Scene in April.
"Maybe six judges are better than three. I doubt that, but maybe. Nobody knows because it hasn't been done, but at least you experiment with that with fights that are not as prominent. With all due respect to my friend Mauricio - who's a really good guy, loves the sport of boxing and has done a great job with the WBC - I wouldn't do it for this fight."
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