Insane.
Ludicrous.
Silliness.
Those were words perturbed promoter Bob Arum used Thursday when asked by Uncrowned about the IBF’s insistence that its light heavyweight champion, Artur Beterbiev, must make his next title defense against anonymous mandatory challenger Michael Eifert. The IBF issued its order Thursday morning, barely four days after Beterbiev became boxing’s first fully unified 175-pound champion of the four-belt era, because it is the IBF’s turn in the light heavyweight division’s mandatory rotation, which includes the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO.
It has become a common, counterproductive occurrence for one of boxing’s four recognized sanctioning organizations to order a mandatory defense against an obscure opponent soon after an undisputed or unified champion is crowned in a given division. Those fights typically are mismatches that cost promoters, in this case Arum’s Top Rank Inc., and television or streaming partners substantial sums of money that could be better spent servicing boxing fans who are regularly forced to settle for fights they don’t want to watch.
“It’s totally insane,” Arum told Uncrowned. “Every promoter works hard to get their fighter to be undisputed. And then the organizations, particularly the IBF, order mandatories and it becomes impossible. It’s like a burden to be undisputed. I mean, the idea that you have to fight some non-entity to keep your title, after you’ve won the biggest fight of your career, seems crazy to me.”
The 92-year-old Arum, whose company promotes Beterbiev, has various more profitable options for the Russian knockout artist. An immediate rematch with Dmitriy Bivol, whom Beterbiev beat by majority decision Saturday night at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, makes the most sense from business and competitive standpoints.
Beterbiev’s victory over the previously unbeaten Bivol is commonly considered debatable. Bivol — whose team petitioned the IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO on Wednesday to order a rematch — Beterbiev and Saudi Arabian fight financier Turki Alalshikh agreed in the emotional aftermath of their title unification fight that they should run it back next.
It’s like a burden to be undisputed. The idea that you have to fight some non-entity to keep your title, after you’ve won the biggest fight of your career, seems crazy to me.Bob Arum
Unless superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez alters his plans and wants to challenge Beterbiev, a rematch versus Bivol is Beterbiev’s most lucrative option. Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) and Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) earned approximately $10 million apiece for their first fight, and it was close and entertaining enough to warrant a second bout.
Arum will advise Beterbiev against facing Germany’s Eifert (13-1, 5 KOs), a light-punching opponent who upset past-his-prime former WBA/WBC champ Jean Pascal (37-7-1, 21 KOs) by unanimous decision in March 2023 in Pascal’s hometown of Laval, Quebec, Canada.
Eifert fought only once since he beat Pascal 18 months ago, but risking his mandatory position against a more imposing opponent than 39-year-old Venezuelan veteran Carlos Jimenez (13-6, 12 KOs), whom he knocked out in August, wouldn’t have been wise. His hiatus was also extended because Beterbiev suffered a knee injury that postponed the Bivol bout four more months.
“We have to talk to Beterbiev,” Arum said. “If we do the fight [with Eifert], it’s like a two-round fight. It’s a joke. This guy has never fought anybody. You know, if it was a mandatory with a [David] Benavidez or a fighter of that magnitude, that would be different. So, now you tell this fighter, ‘Don’t waste your time fighting a non-entity. Just give up the title.’ But he says, ‘Finally, I’m undisputed.’ This is ludicrous. They say, ‘Well, these are our rules.’ Well, change the f**king rules.”
Those that run the Springfield, New Jersey-based governing body are understandably sticklers for rules because of the infamous IBF bribery scandal that led to the imprisonment of late IBF founder Bob Lee.
As its president, Lee extorted managers and promoters, including Arum, to fix rankings and sanction bouts. Lee, who died March 25 at the age of 91, was found guilty on six of 38 charges at his racketeering trial in August 2000 and served 22 months in prison.
The FBI for a time stationed a monitor inside the IBF’s offices after a lengthy investigation exposed its illegal business practices.
Daryl Peoples, longtime president of the IBF, rarely comments publicly regarding its business decisions. He declined to be interviewed by Uncrowned.
Enforcing rules to benefit Saturday’s fighters
Though ordering Beterbiev vs. Eifert drew widespread criticism, abiding by its rules — which the IBF does more consistently than the WBA, WBC, and WBO — actually will lead to two of its mandatory challengers fighting for IBF belts Saturday in bouts that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.
Russia’s Bakhram Murtazaliev (22-0, 16 KOs) makes his first defense of the IBF junior middleweight title against Australia’s Tim Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) in the 12-round main event of Saturday’s three-bout Premier Boxing Championship stream from Caribe Royale Orlando in Florida (Prime Video; 8 p.m. ET). Murtazaliev waited more than four years and accepted four step-aside fees and accompanying tune-up fights that earned Murtazaliev and promoter Main Events close to $2 million in combined compensation packages while allowing IBF champs Jeison Rosario and later Jermell Charlo to participate in title unification fights.
Murtazaliev made the most of his long-awaited championship chance April 6 in Berlin, where he knocked out Germany’s Jack Culcay (33-5, 14 KOs) to win an unclaimed championship Charlo vacated. Murtazaliev was required to make his first IBF title defense versus Tszyu, again because the IBF followed its rules.
Tszyu lost the WBO junior middleweight title to California’s Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) in his most recent bout, but he is rated fourth among the IBF’s 154-pound contenders and accepted this title shot after third-ranked Orlando native Erickson Lubin (26-2, 18 KOs) turned it down due to a hand injury. The top two spots in the IBF’s rankings are unoccupied, another peculiar practice predicated on scheduling elimination matches, which made Murtazaliev fight the next available contender.
“If it were up to me, of course I wanted to fight [Charlo], especially because he had all four belts,” Murtazaliev explained to Uncrowned of his championship odyssey. “I could’ve become the undisputed world champion. But everything is in God’s hands. It’s God’s will. Boxing is a business. And maybe it’s not the cleanest business. But I waited and my opportunity came. I am very thankful for the IBF, but I waited for four and a half years. I hoped they could’ve made it a little bit sooner, but I’m happy to be their champion.”
Championship unification bouts trump mandatory bouts according to the IBF’s rules as long as the IBF doesn’t first order a purse bid for a required title defense.
That rule enabled Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury to fight May 18 to become boxing’s first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era. Ukraine’s Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) won a split decision and then immediately gave up the IBF belt — now owned by England’s Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) — after Usyk defeated Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs), whom Usyk will fight again Dec. 21 at Kingdom Arena.
The tendency of sanctioning organizations to strip undisputed champions frustrates fans who want one champion in each of boxing’s 17 weight classes.
Boxing is a business. And maybe it’s not the cleanest business. But I waited and my opportunity came. I am very thankful for the IBF.Bakhram Murtazaliev
For fighters like Murtazaliev, William Scull, and Vladimir Shishkin, the IBF’s penchant for following its rules benefits them and those who have guided their careers.
Cuba’s Scull (22-0, 9 KOs), who has long been the No. 1 contender for the IBF super middleweight title Alvarez held until recently, fights the second-ranked Shishkin (16-0, 10 KOs) on Saturday night at Stadthalle Falkensee in Berlin for the IBF’s vacant 168-pound crown.
The IBF stripped Alvarez of that title in July when he made it known that he would make a voluntary defense against Edgar Berlanga rather than a mandated defense versus Scull. Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) beat Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) by unanimous decision Sept. 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Dmitriy Salita, Shishkin’s promoter, went 35-2-1 (18 KOs) primarily as a junior welterweight from 2001-13. Salita therefore takes a fighter’s mentality toward holding sanctioning organizations accountable and appreciates what the IBF has done for several of the boxers he represents.
Arum was Salita’s first promoter, but Salita disagrees with his Hall of Fame colleague. Eifert’s résumé as a No. 1 contender clearly is questionable, but Salita respects that the IBF doesn’t allow the sport’s power brokers to dictate its practices.
It is particularly commendable, Salita and others pointed out, because the IBF oftentimes costs itself hundreds of thousands of dollars in sanctioning fees by ordering such lower-profile fights as Scull vs. Shishkin, when it could’ve granted Alvarez an exemption and sanctioned his fight with Berlanga. Champions and challengers typically pay the IBF 3% of their purses for title bouts.
“That’s the great thing about being obedient to the rules and being objective, that you get exactly the right result,” Salita told Uncrowned. “The fact that people get upset — the money people in the sport become upset or the biggest stars in the sport become upset — that means that they are doing the right thing. Because the right thing is not always popular, but it has to be consistent. The IBF, through thick and thin, has shown that they’re consistent.
“In a way, this Shishkin versus Scull fight is a prime example of that because Canelo Alvarez, without a doubt, is one of the highest-earning athletes in all of sports, not just boxing. … If there were more clarity on what the rules are, this sport would be better…
