IBF Orders Artur Beterbiev To Defend Against Michael Eifert

Undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev has been ordered by the IBF to defend against his mandatory Michael Eifert (13-1, 5 KOs) of Germany next.

This move by the International Boxing Federation could potentially get in the way of a rematch between Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) and Dmitry Bivol. If Beterbiev chooses to hold onto his four-belt undisputed championship, he’ll need to defend against the 26-year-old Eifert next.

Keith Idec reports that the IBF has ordered the Beterbiev vs. Eifert fight. The IBF’s move won’t make Team Bivol happy because they petitioned the four sanctioning bodies on Wednesday to have an immediate rematch with Beterbiev, arguing that many viewers saw Dmitry as the winner of their fight last Saturday night, October 12th.

This is not a fight that fans would want to see. Eifert is an unknown to most fans, and there would be little interest in a clash between him and Beterbiev.

It’s unknown if Beterbiev will vacate his IBF title or look or give Eifert a step-aside payment to move him out of the way for Artur’s rematch with Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs).

Eifert’s best career win came against 40-year-old Jean Pascal, winning a 12-round unanimous decision last year on March 16th, 2023. The former WBA and WBC light heavyweight champion Pascal was nowhere near the top of his game in that fight.

The IBF obviously gave Eifert his mandatory spot based on his win over Pascal, but that victory wasn’t great due to his advanced age. It would have made more sense for the IBF to order a fight between Eifert and Anthony Yarde for a title eliminator rather than having Pascal as the guy.

In 2020, Eifert suffered his only career loss, losing to Tom Dzemski by an eight-round majority decision. A year later, Eifert avenged the loss, beating Dzemski by a 10-round majority decision.