Artur Beterbiev vs. Michael Eifert - IBF Ordered

[Ruthless-RKO]

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.

[tiny_acres]

Michael Eifert will be destroyed.
I'm curious as to why the IBF would order such a mismatch

[margaret thatcher]

and the crowd goes mild

[joshj909]

Against anyone but Bivol, is there anyone worth giving an option for except Beterbiev KO?

[giacomino]

Michael Eifert will be destroyed.
I'm curious as to why the IBF would order such a mismatch

My guess is he and they know it won’t happen and the IBF will then set him up against someone he has more hope of competing with for a “vacant” title in Germany. His ranking is based on outpointing a 40-year-old Jean Pascal last year. This is as bad as Beterbiev fighting an overmatched German Enrico Koelling for an alphabet belt in 2017.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Haha who changed the poll??

[DrDuke]

IBF'diots being themselves.

[joshj909]

IBF'diots being themselves.

They're frustrating. They're the most consistent of the ABC bodies so they're always predictable in enforcing a mandatory, they don't have stupid amounts of belts, they make 1&2 have an eliminator before fighting for the belt which is good, however, stopping undisputed guys for unifying, rematching or facing the other top guy in the division is frustrating.

[Ruthless-RKO]

“It’s totally insane. It’s like a burden to be undisputed. I mean, the idea that you have to fight some non-entity to keep your title after you’ve won the biggest fight of your career seems crazy to me. This is ludicrous. They say, ‘These are our rules.’ Well, change the rules,” said Bob Arum to @UncrownedCombat

[apollo creed]

Artur vs Bivol 2 or Artur vs Bena-Morrell winner.

[igor king]

IBF is just ridiculous. If they can't find anybody better, they should let Beterbiev pick his opponent. Wouldn't be worse than Eifert anyway.

[pound per pound]

It just an IBF title defense. A stay busy fight. All champions have them.

[igor king]

It just an IBF title defense. A stay busy fight. All champions have them.

At his age, stay busy fights are the waste of precious time left in his career. Maybe he wasn't scary enough in his last fight and Canelo will want him.

[pound per pound]

It just an IBF title defense. A stay busy fight. All champions have them.

At his age, stay busy fights are the waste of precious time left in his career. Maybe he wasn't scary enough in his last fight and Canelo will want him.

Nah, Canelo thinks he's the chupacabra. AB will tear him to shreds.

[igor king]

May not be happening: https://boxing-social.com/news/artur-be ... rld-title/

[margaret thatcher]

if this were 5 years ago as some stay busy ko showcase mando defense it would be okay. eh fight, but one that he could afford to take. but with him being almost 40 and riding a career high, this would be a major waste for him. so its good it looks like he's not taking it. far bigger fish to fry in a very limited time period.