Dmitry Bivol returned from a 15-month layoff to dominate Michael Eifert with a shutout unanimous decision win Saturday in Russia.
The Ring, IBF, WBA and WBO light heavyweight champion Bivol (25-1, 12 KOs) was mandated by the IBF to face the inferior Eifert, who had been waiting three years for his opportunity. Eifert essentially served as a tune-up fight for the 35-year-old champion on his return from back surgery and delivered a paltry performance, landing an abominable 12 of 349 punches. The next bout for The Ring’s No. 6-rated pound-for-pound fighter, though, will be anything but a test run. Bivol now has to weigh his options, which include fulfilling his WBO obligation and facing mandatory challenger and interim titleholder Callum Smith, or vacating the title – much like he did last year with his WBC crown instead of moving forward with an ordered fight against David Benavidez before his looming surgery. Bivol appears inclined to entertain the idea of a rubber match against Artur Beterbiev or an undisputed title fight against the WBC titleholder Benavidez. The WBO already made it clear before this weekend that the winner would have to give Smith, The Ring's No. 2-ranked player at 175 pounds, the next crack at the crown. Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn handles both Bivol and Smith, so he'll have to navigate the situation. "It was great to see Bivol back," Hearn said. "You saw him sort of take his time. I feel like he probably could have gotten Eifert out of there, but great to bank the rounds after a very long period out with injury. "And now, Bivol has been ordered to fight Callum, who’s got to get his shot. If Bivol does choose to fight Beterbiev or Benavidez, then it will be Callum versus Joshua Buatsi to run it back for the world title, which would be a massive fight. Dmitry is now ready to jump straight back into the biggest fights in the sport. It's exciting times. We'll see what happens.” Smith (31-2, 22 KOs), who was stopped by Beterbiev in January 2024 and suffered a unanimous decision loss against Canelo Alvarez in 2020 at 168 pounds, hasn’t fought since beating Buatsi by decision in a barnburner last time out in February 2025. Smith was supposed to face David Morrell on April 18, but withdrew less than two weeks prior due to injury. Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram : @ManoukAkopyan.
