WBO President Disagrees with Sulaiman on Judging Proposal for Usyk vs. Fury

In an interview with World Boxing News, WBO President Paco Valcarcel expressed his opposition to Mauricio Sulaiman's suggestion to increase the number of judges in the bout between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury.

The day before, the WBC President had advocated for innovations such as instant video replays and increasing the number of judges to six for the heavyweight unification title fight (over 90.7 kg) between WBO, WBA, IBO, and IBF titleholder Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) and WBC champion Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs).

"This topic was discussed among the sanctioning bodies. I don't believe this proposal will add anything to boxing because the judges should be competent, and three is enough. Will I support the proposal if it is put to a vote? No, I will not support it. In our sport, three judges assess the action, and this is done round by round. Essentially, each round is completely different from another. Boxers have no idea how the judges have scored them, unlike in diving or gymnastics. A boxing judge has a tough job because they are rarely acknowledged unless there is a controversial decision. Then they can be called corrupt, blind, incompetent, and even criminal, thinking that they assess inadequately. The difference between a judge's scores and the assessments of everyone else involves a significant number of variables, which can have different viewpoints," Valcarcel stated.

The fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury is scheduled for May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.