Our concerns were more than justified when an ESPN executive/broadcaster was tasked with directing the heavyweight championship rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, only to have his replacement selected by a commission’s coin toss on Saturday afternoon.

Yes, you read that correctly. The puzzling process of replacing Miami’s Fernando Barbosa with Panama’s Ignacio Robles was quite ridiculous and only necessary because Barbosa’s appointment further highlighted boxing’s broader problems.

We must therefore monitor how the Middle Eastern Professional Boxing (MEPB) Commission appoints judges in the future, as it clearly has a less rigorous selection process than many commissions in the United States and the British Boxing Board of Control. We also have to admit that the MEPB commissioned an absolutely competent jury to evaluate “Usyk-Fury 2”.

Robles, Puerto Rico’s Gerardo Martinez and Chicago’s Patrick Morley more than nailed it Saturday night at Kingdom Arena. In fact, they were perfect – so apt that all three should be considered for the highest-profile fights around the world after proving themselves on a large, potentially intimidating stage.

Each judge scored Usyk the winner 116-112 over Fury, with the latter dropping a second straight decision to a uniquely talented, undisputed two-division champion who has developed into one of the greats and arguably the best boxers of the generation, pounds for pounds. in sports. Their first fight, which Usyk won by split decision at Kingdom Arena on May 18, was closer than this rematch, although Usyk nearly knocked out a stunned, stumbling Fury late in the ninth round of that first meeting.

Seven months later, there was no doubt who won this 12-round DAZN pay-per-view main event.

Ukrainian Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) prevented an initially powerful Fury from adopting the bullish strategy that allowed him to overwhelm Deontay Wilder in their 2020 WBC championship rematch. Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) overwhelmed Wilder with his pressure and physicality that night, winning by seventh-round technical knockout.

But a determined Usyk stood his ground as Fury tried to move him backwards on Saturday, often forcing Fury onto his own back foot. The 37-year-old southpaw also neutralized Fury’s trademark jab in the early rounds, helping him get inside and land intermittent punches on the 6-foot, 250-pound Fury’s sprawling frame.

Pressing the action and clearly countering Fury’s punches caused Usyk to constantly catch Fury with stinging left hands, which occasionally threw Fury off balance.

“I win,” Usyk said after the fight. “That’s good. … (Judging) is not my business.”

Usyk couldn’t argue with their identical scorecards as every judge awarded the former all-unified cruiserweight champion the eight-round victory. It appeared – at least to this Uncrowned columnist – that Usyk actually won eight rounds.

While we shouldn’t celebrate perfectly competent scoring as if we had anything less to expect, those of us who went into Saturday night fearing another damaging, disastrous result have some semblance of restored confidence in the referees’ abilities, it Getting it right when the time comes is most important. With Martinez, Morley and Robles, we have also developed three additional options for handling the biggest fights in the United States, where frustrated fans often complain that title fights use the same rotations of five or six effective, experienced and effective referees .

Steve Weisfeld, who lost the aforementioned coin toss, is among the American judges who regularly compete in elite main events.

Frank Warren, Fury’s co-promoter, predictably protested the loss of the English legend. Warren’s company, Queensberry Promotions, also represents Daniel Dubois, who jumped into the ring and demanded his own rematch against Usyk.

“Yes, if they want it,” Warren said after the fight, referring to Usyk-Dubois 2. “But I want to tell you something – the fact that Tyson only got four rounds in that fight is impossible.”

Perhaps Warren’s stance was blocked for the fight. As Fury explained in a recent interview with Uncrowned, such a phenomenon sometimes results in referees judging fights at ringside differently than fans and media who are either further away from the ring or at home. Whatever Warren’s motives, this was, for a change, no reason to complain about the judgment.

Fury left the ring without commenting on the second defeat of his 16-year professional career, but adamantly argued in his post-fight press conference that he should have been the winner, calling the decision “an early Christmas present” for his opponent. However, Usyk acknowledged that this too was at least a competition.

“Listen, (Fury is) a great fighter,” Usyk said. “It’s a great opponent. … (Incredible) 24 laps for my career. Thank you.”

The 2012 Olympic gold medalist was also grateful to hear from his two sons, who won judo matches earlier on Saturday, telling their father it was his turn to make the family proud again against Fury. Usyk didn’t seem to particularly appreciate Dubois having to scream in his face about a rematch just moments after he was announced as the winner of eight rounds outright on Saturday night.

A demonstrative Dubois, clearly overwhelmed after knocking out compatriot Anthony Joshua at a sold-out Wembley Stadium in London on September 21, called for a rematch of a fight he won by knockout in the ninth in Wroclaw, Poland, in August 2023 had lost the round.

Unless the 36-year-old former WBC champion retires, Fury’s future, financially at least, appears limited to a still-marketable, long-discussed showdown with Joshua, his British rival. Fury and Joshua need each other more than ever, having gone 0-3 in their last three games together.

Meanwhile, a second fight with Dubois seems to make perfect sense for Usyk. The potential problem, of course, is that Dubois (22-2, 22 KOs) will first face re-emerging former WBO champion Joseph Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) in their 12-round fight for Dubois’ IBF belt on March 22 . February in the Kingdom Arena.

Still, Usyk was ahead of himself and accepted the challenge from Dubois if he can overtake Parker. Usyk – who owns the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBO belts – called on Saudi fight financier Turki Alalshikh to “give me a fight with Daniel Dubois”.

“No problem,” Usyk said. “I’m ready. Next fight, no problem.”

The problem in their first fight was that Dubois believed the body punch he landed in the fifth round that sent Usyk rolling around on the canvas should have been counted as a knockdown and knockout. Had that happened, Dubois, not Usyk, would have fought Fury for heavyweight supremacy.

As it was, referee Luis Pabon gave Usyk more than enough time to recover. The former undisputed cruiserweight champion subsequently dropped Dubois twice – three times in total – and seemingly made Dubois quit as a pro for the second time.

Despite this controversy, there was no such discrepancy regarding the official outcome of Usyk-Fury 2. Usyk simply proved to be better than Fury.

Martinez, Morley and Robles rated the action accordingly – perfect, it seems. After all the evidence has shown us to be skeptical about how we arrived at the composition of this jury, those who care about boxing should at least be grateful for that.