Dmitry Bivol shall be down one other belt sooner relatively than later. After vacating the WBC belt within the face of a conflict with interim champion David Benavidez, the IBF has ordered him to face longtime obligatory challenger Michael Eifert.
Eifert (13-1, 5 KO) picked up a trinket in 2022 earlier than upsetting a totally fried Jean Pascal a 12 months later. The Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol saga saved his title shot on ice till October of final 12 months, just for the sanctioning physique to permit a rematch. Now, with the 2 pound-for-pound stalwarts approaching a possible rubber match, the IBF is placing its foot down.
On the one (and most vital) hand, Eifert’s a rubbish obligatory challenger. It’s ludicrous that he’s ranked above the likes of Albert Ramirez and Imam Khataev, On the opposite, the IBF has given Beterbiev an atypically beneficiant quantity of slack right here. It’s been greater than 4 years since Beterbiev fought an IBF obligatory in Steve Deines, who was coincidentally additionally German.
There’s a 0% probability that Bivol takes this combat, so odds are that Eifert faces no. 2 Conor Wallace (16-1, 11 KO) for the vacant title. Wallace received an eliminator of his personal final August, edging out Jerome Pampellone by break up resolution.
