What Role Will AI Play in the Paul vs. Davis Exhibition?
When Jake Paul and Gervonta “Tank” Davis meet in their upcoming exhibition, the story isn’t just about power, fame, or boxing credibility. It’s about what’s judging the fight. For the first time in boxing history, an artificial intelligence system, not human officials, will determine the outcome. This development could either represent a revolution in fairness or a dangerous step toward removing human nuance from the sport. After the event, ultimately, the masses will determine the success of this new technology frontier regardless of the pedigree of the boxing bout.
AI judging has been quietly brewing in combat sports for years, mostly in testing phases at smaller shows. It operates by employing computer vision and data analytics to quantify punches below the waistline, ascertain accuracy, and assess ring control in terms of actual movement and positioning. Proponents of this new method suggest that it eliminates the bias and incompetence that have sullied the reputation of boxing for many years. They point to controversial scorecards—from Canelo Álvarez’s draw with Gennadiy Golovkin to Devin Haney’s disputed win over Vasiliy Lomachenko—as proof that the sport needs a neutral arbiter.
However, boxing’s beauty has always lived in interpretation. Judges reward varying styles of boxing: pressure fighters, slick counterpunchers, volume punchers, and defensive specialists. AI can measure activity, but does it measure dominance? Does it measure rhythm? Does it measure mental control, which defines elite boxing? Gervonta Davis is a timing-based knockout artist; he works efficiently by throwing fewer punches that are more intentional and direct. Meanwhile, Jake Paul is volume-heavy and appears more robotic. A machine may simply see this difference and state that one guy is "outworking" the other, when in fact the cleaner, more difficult punches were thrown by Gervonta Davis. In addition to this, there are issues of transparency. Who knows what type of algorithm has been programmed? How are the values of punches weighted and scored? What happens when the algorithm malfunctions or has an error while a fight is occurring? Already, boxing fans have problems trusting boxing commission systems. Replacing humans with an unseen code could deepen that skepticism.
Some feel that AI should be a fourth judge, not the only judge, serving as backup analytics, but not a judge in and of itself. Nonetheless, the experiment fits into Jake Paul's construct of boxing as a show, and its social justice benefits man the cringe factor. Good for the sport if the outcome is agreed upon by the public, and the commissions program it into their official scoring systems. If it doesn't work, then it is just another gimmick in a gimmicky sport. Either way, this fight has the potential to be a pivotal moment in the evolution of boxing, moving beyond the commission and amateur ranks, and becoming an entity unto itself. Just as instant replay changed officiating in other sports, AI scoring could eventually change the soul of boxing. Better or worse. For now, fans will tune in not only to see who wins, but also how the machine decides.
