Beterbiev ordered to face IBF mandatory challenger

Artur Beterbiev has been ordered to defend his IBF light-heavyweight title against the mandatory challenger, a day after Dmitry Bivol appealed to the four sanctioning bodies to back an immediate rematch.

Russian Beterbiev, 39, became the division's first four-belt world champion with a split-decision victory over compatriot Bivol in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Bivol's promoter Eddie Hearn and manager Vadim Kornilov publicly lambasted the scorecards, which were 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112 for Beterbiev.

Bivol, 33, sent a request through his lawyer on Wednesday to the WBO, WBA, IBF and WBC, asking for their support in securing a rematch with Beterbiev.

But the IBF has now officially ordered Beterbiev to begin "negotiations" with a mandatory challenger, German Michael Eifert.

This may well not be the end of the matter, however.

The IBF says Beterbiev can still request an "exception" to make a voluntary defence which would be considered.

As sanctioning bodies, the organisations authorise fighters to compete for their world titles, but none of the four major sanctioning bodies have the power to overturn an official result.

The British Boxing Board of Control was in charge of overseeing the weekend's event, as has been the case for most Saudi fight nights in the last 12 months.

While Hearn said the 116-112 scorecard was "disgusting", Bivol did not publicly question the result.

Bivol suffered the first defeat of his 24-fight career, while Beterbiev was taken the distance for the first time as a professional.

A rematch is still on the cards, with both fighters saying they are open to a second fight.

However, the fighters will need the support of the sanctioning bodies if the undisputed title and all four belts are to remain on the line.

A similar situation to this case arose after Oleksandr Usyk beat Tyson Fury to claim all the heavyweight titles in May.

The IBF immediately ordered Usyk to defend his belt against its mandatory challenger and when Usyk vacated his title, Daniel Dubois was upgraded to full champion status.

The rematch between Fury and Usyk on 21 December will not be for the undisputed title.

It has also been the case on several occasions that exceptions have been granted to reigning champions to delay fighting their mandatories.

To take a recent example, IBF cruiserweight title holder Jai Opetaia was permitted to fight Jack Massey last Saturday despite the Briton sitting outside the top 10 of the IBF's rankings.