Artur Beterbiev Ordered By IBF To Next Face Mandatory Challenger Michael Eifert, But…
The main reason why Dmitrii Bivol sought to secure an immediate rematch with Artur Beterbiev has now come to light.
The Ring has confirmed that Beterbiev was ordered by the IBF to next face Germany’s Michael Eifert, the longstanding mandatory challenger. Both fighters were instructed to begin negotiations for their light heavyweight championship fight.
For those who’d much rather see a Beterbiev-Bivol sequel, there is hope.
Beterbiev (21-0, 20 knockouts) has wiggle room to request an exception to his mandatory for his next fight. Such practices are normally reserved for unification bouts. However, the unbeaten 39-year-old already fully unified the division and won The Ring championship with his Oct. 12 victory over Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Many fans and even some media have called into question why Eifert (13-1, 5 KOs) is anywhere near the title stage. Sadly, they did not pay attention to the steps that led to the Beterbiev-Bivol light heavyweight summit meeting.
Both fighters were informed prior to their bout that the winner would be on the hook to next honor the overdue IBF mandatory. It was further pushed back when Beterbiev suffered an injury, which postponed their originally scheduled June 1 meeting.
Eifert became the IBF No. 1 contender after a twelve-round win over Jean Pascal last March 16 in Laval, Canada. Their final eliminator saw Eifert fight outside of Germany for the first time in his career and claim an upset win in the hometown of the former lineal light heavyweight champion.
An expected title shot was stalled due to Beterbiev’s postponed WBC mandatory title defense versus Callum Smith. They were due to meet last Aug. 19, but a tooth infection forced a five-month postponement to earlier this year.
Beterbiev knocked out Smith in the seventh round of their Jan. 13 meeting in Quebec City, Canada. He honored his WBC mandatory and also defended his lineal, IBF and WBO titles. The win paved the way for an undisputed clash versus Bivol, though not until another four-month postponement.
Eifert was afforded a stay-busy fight. He easily won via second-round knockout over Carlos Jimenez (13-6, 12 KOs) on Aug. 24 in his hometown of Magdeburg, Germany.
As previously reported by The Ring, Bivol has reached to all four sanctioning bodies in hopes to force an immediate rematch.
His team has filed a formal protest of the outcome of the bout, which saw Beterbiev claim a twelve-round majority decision. Additionally, Vadim Kornilov, Bivol’s career-long manager, demanded an official review of the 116-112 card turned in by judge Pawel Kardyni. The card was widely regarded as an outlier. Immediate post-fight reaction suggested Bivol deserved the nod, while most others had it a draw.
The bout was financed by the Riyadh Season group headed by Turki Alalshikh, who expressed his interest in running it back. Beterbiev now has the option to request such an option with the IBF, which would then be put in front of the IBF Board of Directors for approval.
Beterbiev became the sport’s first undisputed light heavyweight champion since 2002. Roy Jones held the WBA, WBC and IBF belts from 1999-2002. The WBO wasn’t as regarded then as is the case in present day.
Bivol held the WBA title from Nov. 2017 through his narrow defeat to Beterbiev. It ended the sport’s second-longest active title reign among male titleholders. That designation now belongs to Beterbiev, whose IBF reign began one week after Bivol’s WBA title starting point. The only fighter to held a belt longer is WBA strawweight beltholder Knockout CP Freshmart, who was upgraded to full titlist in June 2016.
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