The much-anticipated “Last Crescendo” Riyadh Season rematch between light-heavyweight boxers Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol marked a pivotal moment in the sport: an AI-powered 4th judge was at hand.
Not only did the AI 4th judge—created by Indie agency BigTime Creative for longstanding boxing magazine The Ring and trained on 103 years of data from the boxing ring—score the fight for the undisputed light-heavyweight title with data-driven precision, but it was also on hand to interact with fans and answer their questions about the boxers’ performances in each round.
The 4th judge’s scores won’t impact the final result, but they offer a new level of insight and engagement into the sport. Using a network of cameras to capture every angle of the fight and employing computer vision analysis that responds to the action in real-time, the 4th judge delivers an objective, AI-driven decision on the match – free from bias.
In Saturday’s fight, the three human judges gave Bivol the victory, declaring a revenge win for the boxer after Beterbiev triumphed in the first bout. The 4th judge agreed with the three human judges on this occasion, adding AI’s impartial vote to the result in a sport where scores can sometimes spark fiercer battles than the fights themselves. In the first title bout last October, Beterbiev narrowly won on points, and Bivol’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, went on to call for one of the judges that night to be sacked.
Mohammed Sehly, CEO at BigTime said: “The 4th judge is a game-changer for boxing, something that has never before been seen in combat sports. The ability to chat with a boxing judge is another major breakthrough, giving fans an unprecedented opportunity to engage. Now, they can access an objective, data-driven final score, free from bias. With this, we are driving change and setting a new benchmark for the sport.”
The rematch was billed as “The Last Crescendo” by BigTime, which promoted the fight with a three-act, opera-inspired film bringing the rivalry between Beterbiev and Bivol to life. Set in a grand European opera house, it’s accompanied by a full symphony soundtrack composed especially for the film.
Not all boxers have yet embraced the 4th judge, which was first used to score the Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury rematch in Riyadh in December. For that bout, it also gave similar scores to the three official human judges, but it still provoked Fury to bellow “f*** all computers!” when he learned it had given the match to Usyk 118-112
AI Fourth Judge website – https://4th-judge.com
