Bivol Dominates His Mandatory Challenger To Retain Unified Titles

Unified light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (25-1, 12 KOs) successfully defended his WBA and IBF titles in Ekaterinburg, Russia, on Saturday, delivering a clinical performance to breeze past his mandatory challenger Michael Eifert (13-2, 5 KOs) via a wide unanimous decision.

Returning to the ring for the first time in 15 months following an injury layoff, Bivol showed little signs of ring rust with all three judges scoring the contest 118-107 in favor of the champion.

Bivol sent Eifert to the canvas with a devastating left hook midway through the first round and while Eifert survived the round, it was clear early on that he was up against a far superior fighter.

BACK LIKE HE NEVER LEFT 🤯 WELCOME BACK BIVOL #BivolEifert | Live NOW on DAZN▪️ pic.twitter.com/JQIj1J9kBF

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) May 30, 2026

Bivol expertly controlled the distance, repeatedly forcing Eifert to miss and countered with precision landing sharp double left hooks in the second round and a two-piece combination in the third that showed Bivol was comfortably in control. The control continued, with Bivol easily out-performing his opponent in the middle rounds.

While Bivol demonstrated the power to hurt Eifert – most notably with a body shot in the 11th round—the champion seemed content to cruise to a shutout unanimous decision victory to remain the unified 175-pound champion.

This was obviously not a physically taxing fight for Bivol, as Eifert was clearly out of his league, however the champ’s next opponent – whether it be a third fight vs. his rival Artur Beterbiev or an undisputed championship fight vs WBA champion David Benavidez – will undoubtedly be a much  tougher fight for Bivol.