With just a day to go until Tyson Fury's world heavyweight title clash with Oleksandr Usyk, the rival camps are locked in a dispute over a replacement official.
Usyk's rematch against Britain's Fury is set to take place this Saturday on the Riyadh Live Season Show Sky Sports Box Office.
At stake will be the WBO, WBA and WBC championships, which Usyk won from Fury in the first fight.
Fernando Barbosa was supposed to be one of the three judges on the night of the fight, but was unable to travel to Riyadh due to illness.
Two officials, Steve Weisfeld and Ignacio Robles, were brought in to replace him. But the fighters' teams are divided over which referee should be used on fight night, with promoter Frank Warren suggesting a coin toss should settle the issue.
This is a dispute that the commission will have to find a way to resolve.
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Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk engage in an intense eleven-minute staredown that had to be stopped before their rematch.
said promoter Frank Warren Sky Sports: “One of the judges fell ill from the three that were decided.
“There are two referees on standby, both are coming and we have to decide which one it will be.
“We want one of them and the other camp wants the other, so I suggested we flip a coin.”
Warren believes that a solution will eventually be found. “This will be sorted out. Use some common sense, and actually both camps are very, very professional and know what they have to do,” he said.
Other key points of contention at Friday's rules meeting were the length of Fury's chin, the position of his shorts and kissing the cross in the corner.
These might sound like minor topics, but they are major issues for rival teams.
In professional boxing, beards must usually be trimmed and of a certain length, so that, for example, a protruding beard cannot be used to scrape against a cut or cause further damage. In this case, Usyk's team wondered if Fury's full beard could actually soften the blow.
The decision was made in Fury's favor – he would not be required to shave it for the fight.
“He's got a beard and there's been a lot of fighters over the years who've fought with beards, and that's it,” Warren noted.
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Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk must be separated after an incredible 11-minute showdown.
In another insight into Fury's approach, his team sought clarity that all kicks below the navel would be considered low kicks regardless of the position of the shorts waistband and goggle.
This suggests that the Brit will attack the body.
Warren explained: “It's what counts as a low blow or not.
“Anything below the navel is a low blow and a lot of fighters wear their shorts higher and it sometimes leads to confusion, you could say, like what happened with Usyk and Daniel Dubois.
“There was a problem in that fight and we don't want that to happen and neither does the other side, so the referee made it very clear – what the referee in the previous fight didn't make clear, he didn't come and give any instructions about it in the boxers' locker room – to ensure that everyone understands this clarification and that we know what a low blow is.”
Usyk famously kissed a cross into the corner during the first fight and came out to put on an inspired performance. But Fury's team doesn't want a “foreign object” in any corner, to eliminate any potential suspicion 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 it all out. If there's anything being used other than water that goes on the fighter's lips, then the inspector will take it and hold it and if it's visible if something's wrong then they're going to deal with it, test it, whatever it is, what they have to do.”
The big heavyweight rematch between Alexander Usyk and Tyson Fury will be live on Saturday 21st. Sky Sports Box Office. Book Usyk v Fury 2 now!