A NEW judge for Tyson Fury’s rematch against Oleksandr Usyk could be decided with a COIN TOSS.
The rival camps are locked in a dispute over a replacement official as two judges have been drafted to come in for Fernando Barbosa.
Fury, 36, and Usyk, 37, will square off for a second time on Saturday night.
Barbosa had been due to be one of the three judges on fight night but he was unable to travel to Riyadh due to illness.
Two back-up officials, Steve Weisfeld and Ignacio Robles, have been flown in to replace him.
But the respective fighter teams are split on which judge should be used on fight night.
The Gypsy King’s promoter Frank Warren has now suggested a coin toss should settle the issue.
Warren told Sky Sports: “One of the judges has taken ill of the three that were decided upon.
“There are two standby judges, both of them are flying in and we’ve got to decide which one it’s going to be.
“We want one of them and the other camp wants the other, so I’ve suggested we spin a coin.”
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Warren believes a resolution will eventually be found.
He added: “This will get sorted. Use a bit of common sense, and actually both camps are very, very professional and know what they have to do.”
Weisfeld was a judge on Usyk’s first match with Anthony Joshua in 2021, scoring the Ukrainian a 116-112 winner.
He has led an illustrious career stretching back to 1991, with over 2000 fights under his belt, and has largely avoided controversy in that time.
Robert Ramirez Jr of Puerto Rico has been picked as the referee.
But there has been late drama just under 36 hours before the fight is due to get underway.
The other key points of contention at Friday’s rules meeting were the length of Fury’s beard, the position of the shorts and kissing a cross in the corner.
Fury was a clean-shaven giant when he took on Usyk the first time, when the Ukrainian hero won via a split decision.
However, he now sports a great big bushy beard, with Fury admitting he has not groomed anywhere from the eyeballs down.
But the board in charge of the rules for the rematch state fighters must have their jawline visible for safety reasons.
Usyk famously kissed a cross in his corner during the first fight and went out to deliver an inspired performance.
But Fury’s team don’t want a “foreign object” in any corner, in order to eliminate any potential doubt and reduce online speculation.
Warren said: “After the fight there was a lot of speculation, they weren’t sure what it was.
“We just cut through it all. If there’s anything that is used other than water that goes to the fighter’s lips, then the inspector will take it away and hold it and if anything is seen to be not correct then they’ll deal with it, test it, whatever that may be, what they have to do.”
