Light-heavyweight champion’s return bout has its purse bids set back yet again.
Dmitry Bivol is one of the very best fighters in boxing today. Whenever the unified light-heavyweight champion fights, it is always special, as you are seeing a master of his craft get to work right before your eyes.
Those in the know in the boxing fraternity already knew what Bivol was about, but his 2022 win over Canelo Álvarez is what really turned heads.
Because of course, how could you not take notice when the guy everyone thought was the pound-for-pound number one suddenly loses in such convinving fashion? Canelo was 57-1-2 heading into the Bivol fight, having gone 15-0-1 since his only official loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
After Bivol beat Canelo, everybody was in the know.
That same year, Bivol would stand another Mexican on his head, schooling the 44-0 Gilberto Ramírez in a win that has only gotten better with age.
A year’s absence would follow before Bivol would defeat Lyndon Arthur, which was followed by a stoppage of Malik Zinad five months later.
Then the first of Bivol’s fights with Artur Beterbiev would take place.
Beterbiev was the only man who could dispute Bivol’s claim as king of the 175-pound division, and it was clear when they both fought that each man was indeed a king.
But with Beterbiev’s highly disputed victory, it was still unclear to many who was the king.
Well, Bivol would defeat Beterbiev in their rematch and become undisputed champion in the process.
Neither man has fought since, but we know who Bivol will be fighting next: Michael Eifert, his IBF mandatory challenger.
Eifert is a 13-1 German who became mandatory by beating a 40-year-old Jean Pascal. He is seen as an easy comeback after Bivol’s year-long layoff following back surgery.
However, purse bids for a fight between the pair have been delayed once again, for the fourth time, in fact.
Whatever the difficulty is, both camps are optimistic that a deal will be reached, with Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) heavily favoured to shine once again.
👀BIVOL-EIFERT PURSE BIDS EXTENDED
The IBF have granted an extension to negotiations between Unified Light Heavyweight Champion Dmitry Bivol & mandatory challenger Michael Eifert.
Purse bids were due today however both teams are confident a deal can be completed. pic.twitter.com/Kjsyl7UzXw
— On The Record Boxing (@OnTheRecordBox) February 24, 2026
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