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Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) has not fought since his February 2025 win over Malik Zinad, leaving him inactive for more than a year by the time he returns. The IBF ordered him to face Eifert following the German contender\u2019s knockout win over Imam Khataev, which secured his mandatory position.<\/p>\n Eifert (13-1, 5 KOs) represents a lower-profile opponent compared to the names tied to Bivol in recent months, but the mandatory obligation leaves limited flexibility. Moving the fight to Russia gives Bivol a controlled setting for his return rather than placing the bout on a card built around another headliner.<\/p>\n The shift also removes one of the more credible title fights from the planned Egypt event, which had been expected to feature multiple high-level bouts beneath its main attraction. Bivol\u2019s fight now stands alone as the headline in Ekaterinburg, where he is expected to return against a challenger he is heavily favored to beat.<\/p>\n Bivol is taking care of business here, but it is not the kind of fight that answers anything about where he stands against the top names in the division.<\/p>\n Ken Woods has been a senior writer at Boxing News 24 since 2013, covering the sport from every angle. With years of ringside reporting, he delivers fight news, results, and analysis that cut through the noise. Ken\u2019s work consistently spotlights champions, contenders, and rising prospects, giving fans a sharp, knowledgeable view of the global boxing scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n Click here to subscribe to our FREE newsletter<\/a>Related Boxing News:<\/p>\n \t\t\tCategories Dmitry Bivol<\/a> \t\t<\/p>\n Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb Dmitry Bivol<\/a> \u00bb Dmitry Bivol vs Michael Eifert Moved From Egypt To Russia<\/p>\n Last Updated on 2026\/03\/27 at 4:35 PM \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dmitry Bivol\u2019s IBF mandatory defense against Michael Eifert is no longer expected to take place on the May…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-499266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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