Turki Alalshikh announces "groundbreaking" use of AI technology for Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk 2: “Free from bias and human error”
Turki Alalshikh's recent announcement may change the course of combat sports for good: they're using AI to judge Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury II. This monumental move will allow an AI-powered judge to watch the fight and determine who wins on the scorecards.
While the program will raise eyebrows, it will not be used to determine the official results, meaning this will be a dry run. The unprecedented nature of this move by DAZN and Riyadh Season could have far-reaching effects on the sport - we just need to see how it performs on fight day.
Posting the announcement on X, Alalshikh said:
"For the first time ever, an AI-powered judge will monitor the fight 🤖 Free from bias and human error brought to you by The Ring. This groundbreaking experiment, which won’t impact the official results, debuts during the biggest fight of the century, #Usyk2Fury, on December 21 🥊 Don’t miss history in the making 🔥"
There are a lot of questions here, which can be answered once the AI program finally runs. Will human judges be eliminated for good? How foolproof is the program that it cannot be corrupted? While the answers will wait, one cannot deny that this produces more excitement in the hyped-up rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury.
Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury II has arguably the greatest fight promo ever made
As if the usage of AI judges for Usyk-Fury II isn't enough to convince you to watch, the fight's promo video certainly will. It might have wanted everyone to see it too. The two-minute promotional video shot like a high-budget psychological horror film, sees both Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury stunningly committed to their parts.
With a rather haunting version of Kylie Minogue's 'Can't Get You Out of My Head' playing in the background, Usyk and Fury run around the city whilst seeing each other's faces in everything they see. While the narrative has horror elements, the effect is undeniably comedy as the scenes will have you holding your sides out of laughter. You'll never forget the image of Usyk with pigtails smiling directly at you.
This definitely outdoes Usyk and Fury's first promo video for their first fight, which was more of the Western-style variety.
Check out the video below: