The AI judge returned for Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol’s rematch on Saturday night.
Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh trialled the AI-powered judge for Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk‘s rematch in December and brought it back for ‘The Last Crescendo’.
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The fourth official was drafted in to score the fight alongside the three human judges at ringside, although as it is still in an experimental phase, the scorecard had no bearing on the result.
Both men boxed their hearts out for 12 rounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the undisputed light heavyweight titles.
Beterbiev edged their inaugural encounter in October on points.
But Bivol exacted his revenge via majority decision the second time around.
One judge had it 114-114 even, while the other two scored it 115-113 and 116-112 to Bivol.
The AI judge submitted an identical 116-112 scorecard to the latter official in a far less controversial result this time around.
Rounds 1-3 were given to Bivol, rounds 4-7 were Beterbiev’s and rounds 8-12 went to Bivol again.
Last time out, the AI scoring caused an uproar from Fury, who was miffed to find out that the unofficial judge had him losing 118-112.
The other three also scored the fight in Usyk’s favour but they did so by narrower margins of 116-112, 116-112, 116-112.
“S***. F*** all computers, keep humans,” said Fury in an angry assessment at his post-fight press conference.
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“More jobs for humans, less jobs for computers.
“F*** electric cars too.”
There were no such protests from Beterbiev or Bivol, who are expected to square off in a rubber match to decide their iconic rivalry.
WBC mandatory David Benavidez was invited ringside to watch the fight and was being lined up to box Beterbiev if he won again.
However, now that Bivol has levelled their tally, the Russian legends seem destined to square off again.
