Tyson Fury takes on Oleksandr Usyk again (Image: Getty Images)
Roberto Ramirez Jnr has been named as the referee for the highly-anticipated rematch between and – and he has a controversial past.
The two heavyweight titans are set to clash again this weekend, with ‘The Gypsy King’ eager to even the score after his first professional defeat at the hands of the Ukrainian in May, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Watch Fury vs Usyk 2 for £24.99 on DAZN
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are set to lock horns again on December 21 with the Brit attempting to avenge his defeat by the Ukrainian in May.
You can watch the fight for £24.99 with DAZN pay-per-view.
But the main in the middle, Ramirez Jnr, who will be overseeing the bout, has previously been embroiled in controversy. He officiated Chantelle Cameron’s high-profile rematch with Katie Taylor last year, which saw Cameron become the first to beat the Irish star before losing in the follow-up fight. After the match, Cameron’s trainer, Jamie Moore, criticised Ramirez Jnr, blaming him for Cameron’s loss.
“She’s obviously devastated, you can imagine,” Moore revealed to BBC 5 Live Boxing. “She just feels like this whole scenario, everything was set up for her to lose. We were sort of determined to prove everyone wrong, similar to what we did last time. But she got away with holding last time. I’m not saying-first of all, I just wanna say, for what I was actually watching, it was a close fight, it could have gone either way.”
“We were denied a knockdown in the first round, which should have been. 100 per cent legitimate knockdown. I begged the referee in the changing room before the fight, please last time, she got away with holding a lot. My fighter’s best work is up close. Please don’t let her hold the way she did last time this time. And he allowed her to go on worse this time than it was last time.” After securing victory, the Bray brawler claimed the title of two-weight undisputed world champion.
Cameron herself later cast doubt over the choice of referee for their rematch with Taylor, speaking to BBC Radio Northampton: “It wasn’t just me and Katie in that ring. If it was, I’d take the loss and say the better women won on the night. I had everything against me. The ref on the night… it was such a high-status fight, why would you put in a referee that no-one had heard of? That’s not my job, it’s my job to fight. I don’t look into who’s reffing, who’s judging. I’m just frustrated – if I could turn back the hands of time, I would make sure that was all looked into. I’ve learnt my lesson.”