Dmitry Bivol
Dmitry Yuryevich Bivol is a Russian professional boxer. He won the undisputed light-heavyweight title in February 2025, and has held the unified championship since April 2025, as well as the International Boxing Organization and Ring magazine titles since February 2025. Previously, he held the World Boxing Association light-heavyweight title from 2019 to 2024. He also held the IBO title during his first reign as champion.
As an amateur, Bivol won the gold medal at the 2013 World Combat Games in the 81 kg weight category. He was listed by multiple sources as the fighter of the year for 2022, including being selected as The Ring magazine Fighter of The Year and as the Boxing Writers Association of America's Fighter of the Year. He is the only boxer to defeat two reigning undisputed world champions in the "four-belt era," with his victories over super-middleweight champion Canelo Álvarez and light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, though only his fight with Beterbiev was for the undisputed championship, as his fight with Álvarez was for the WBA light heavyweight title.
Early life
Dmitry Bivol's father was born in the Moldavian SSR, while his mother is an ethnic Korean born in the Kazakh SSR.Bivol's parents moved to the Kirgiz SSR after graduating and marrying. He was born and raised in Tokmok, in what is now Kyrgyzstan, until the age of 11, when he moved to Saint Petersburg in the Russian Federation after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Amateur career
Dmitry Bivol took up boxing at the age of six in Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan. Bivol was a naturally bigger kid and he weighed a lot compared to an average-size boy of his age. He explains how his confidence grew as he started to win over much older guys in his amateur bouts. Bivol was a decorated amateur, winning two world championships at the junior level, as well as a bronze medal at the 2008 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in the middleweight division. Bivol won the Russian national amateur boxing championships in 2012 and 2014, as a light heavyweight. His record as an amateur is 268–15.Professional career
Early career
Bivol made his professional debut in November 2014. He won his first six fights by knockout. He sparred with Egor Mekhontsev, Jean Pascal, and Vyacheslav Shabranskyy early in his career. He lives in St. Petersburg but trains in Southern California.WBA interim light heavyweight champion
Bivol won the interim WBA light heavyweight title on 21 May 2016, beating previously undefeated Felix Valera by unanimous decision. Bivol dominated Marcos Felix, dropping him twice with combinations. At the time, the WBA had three different world titles, with Bivol holding the lesser version of them. Bivol's first defense came against Robert Berridge on 23 February 2017. Bivol easily overcame Berridge, pummeling him over four rounds before a technical knockout stoppage. Berridge was knocked down in round 3. At the start of round 4, Bivol opened a cut over Berridge's right eye. Following another knockdown and with Berridge bleeding profusely, the ringside doctor stopped the fight. Bivol then defended his title against Samuel Clarkson on 14 April 2017. The fight headlined a ShoBox show at the MGM National Harbor in Maryland. Bivol once again won in dominant fashion, knocking Clarkson down twice in the first round, before dropping him once more with a short right hand midway through round 4. Although Clarkson got up, the referee stopped the fight, giving Bivol a TKO win.Bivol sought to face WBA champion Nathan Cleverly following his win over Clarkson. He appeared on the undercard of Ward-Kovalev II, in a non-title bout against Cedric Agnew. Agnew had previously lost to Clarkson. Bivol once again won quickly and emphatically, getting a 4th-round TKO for the third consecutive time. Agnew was dropped in the first round.
WBA light heavyweight champion
As interim champion, Bivol was Cleverly's mandatory challenger, but the WBA granted Cleverly an exception for him to face Badou Jack. After Jack defeated Cleverly, the WBA ordered a Jack–Bivol purse bid. However, following WBA and unified champion Andre Ward's retirement, Jack decided to vacate his title, presumably to pursue one of the other vacant titles previously held by Ward.Bivol vs. Broadhurst
With the WBA's other two titles being vacated, interim champion Bivol was elevated to full champion. He was scheduled to fight Trent Broadhurst on an optional defense on 4 November 2017 at the Salle des Etoiles. As interim champion, Dmitry Bivol was ranked No. 1 by the WBA when the fight was announced, while Broadhurst was ranked No. 11. The announcement was met with incredulity by the media, due to many fighters ranked above Broadhurst being available. The WBA's No. 2 contender, Sullivan Barrera, took to Twitter to express his displeasure at being overlooked. The WBA's president, Gilberto Mendoza, later clarified that the winner of the bout will be ordered to fight the WBA's top contender within 120 days. Bivol won the fight by knockout with a clean right-handed shot at the end of the first round. The live broadcast of the fight averaged 341,000 viewers on HBO, while a same-day replay averaged 289,000 viewers.Bivol vs. Barrera
Next Bivol faced the toughest test of his career on 3 March 2018 and dominated Sullivan Barrera and stopped him in the 12th and final round. Bivol was able to outbox and out-punch Barrera throughout the fight, then exploded suddenly with a massive right hand that put the Cuban down halfway into the final frame. Barrera did get up, but referee Harvey Dock stopped the fight for the TKO at 1:41. Bivol received a cut over his right eye early in the bout, and a haematoma that developed over his left eye as the fight went on. Both came from accidental clashes of heads. The fight was part of a doubleheader which saw Sergey Kovalev successfully defend his WBO title against Igor Mikhalkin. The card was confirmed in December 2017. After the fight, Bivol said through a translator, “I felt a little bit like an amateur tonight, it was a really great opponent. Barrera showed me a lot of things tonight, and I have to work on a lot of things. Thanks, Sullivan. I was a little bit reserved. I was thinking how much I need to go the rest of the fight, but in the 12th round, I knew I could knock him out. I stepped on the gas, and the knockout came.”Bivol landed 244 of 778 of his punches, including 146 of 378 power shots, compared to just 75 of 606 for Barrera, who landed 65 of 273 of his power punches. Barrera, who has a solid jab, was also completely out-jabbed, landing just 10 of 333, compared to 97 of 400 for Bivol. The fight averaged 512,000 viewers, peaking at 570,000 viewers, on HBO.
Bivol vs. Chilemba
On 6 June 2018, Main Events announced that Bivol would make a defence against 31-year-old, longtime contender Isaac Chilemba on 4 August at the Etess Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Bivol was happy he had the chance to fight a tough challenger, "I am glad that my next opponent will be a tough and well-known boxer in Chilemba. I will do my best to put on another exciting performance for all my fans." The fight would be a co-feature to Sergey Kovalev defending his WBO title against Eleider Álvarez. The idea of having both Bivol and Kovalev on the same card was part of a plan to have them face off in the fall of 2018 in a unification bout, however both had to come out victorious in their respected bouts.In front of a sold-out crowd of 5,642, Bivol handed Chilemba his sixth career defeat by defeating him via a twelve-round unanimous decision, retaining his WBA title. The three judges scored the bout 120–108, 120–108, and 116–112 for Bivol. Other media outlets including ESPN also scored it a shutout win for Bivol. Bivol landed the harder and cleaner shots throughout the fight. Chilemba landed some nice punches, but not enough to take the rounds. Chilemba used his size to his advantage. Bivol appeared to hurt his right hand as he hardly used it after the first six rounds. Bivol appeared to have hurt his right hand early on. To many viewers, Bivol's right hand gave him a bit of aching after the early rounds. Chilemba showed a great chin in absorbing Bivol's best punches in the first six rounds. Bivol displayed his defensive skills as he blocked many of Chilemba's punches. The punch Chilemba landed the most was a jab. After the fight, Bivol said, "Chilemba is a good fighter and he had champion spirit tonight. He is a strong fighter. I want to fight more good fighters. I don't know who my next opponent will be." Bivol described Chilemba as an awkward fighter. Chilemba believed he dominated the fight after round 6 and should have won the fight. According to CompuBox, Bivol landed 154 of 447 punches thrown and Chilemba landed 73 of his 472 thrown. The fight, which took place on HBO, averaged 583,000 viewers and hit a peak of 632,000 viewers.
In the main event, Álvarez knocked out Kovalev to claim the WBO title, putting a dent in Bivol's plan to fight Kovalev in the fall.
Bivol vs. Pascal
Weeks after defeating Chilemba, Bivol's manager, Vadim Kornilov, revealed Bivol would likely return to the ring in December 2018. With the other light heavyweight titleholders already scheduled to make defences, Kornilov stated, "We're trying to get the biggest name we can to get Dmitry more exposure fighting top guys." In September, there were rumours circulating that Bivol would defend his title against Joe Smith Jr. in December. A month later, TVA Sports and The Montreal Journal reported that former unified champion Jean Pascal was in talks to fight Bivol on 24 November 2018. The news came after it was also reported that Smith was reportedly closing in on signing a deal to fight IBF champion Artur Beterbiev in December. Pascal was one of the frontrunners to fight Bivol in August 2018. Only a few hours later, the fight was announced to take place on HBO at the Etess Arena in Atlantic City. Before talks emerged, Pascal was originally scheduled to fight Canadian cruiserweight champion Gary Kopas in Canada on 9 November, however the fight was cancelled in early October after Pascal needed time to attend his father's funeral.Pascal lost by wide unanimous decision. Bivol’s right hook was established early in the fight, repeatedly hitting Pascal and knocking him off balance. Bivol saw this taking a toll on Pascal and became even more aggressive, landing body shots and leaving Pascal attempting to defend and not throw back. The home-crowd tried to cheer on Pascal. He had a good fourth round, but Bivol quickly reasserted his dominance. The judges scored the bout 119–109, 119–109, 117–111 in favor of Bivol. This was HBO's final event of the "World Championship Boxing" series, as they announced their exit from boxing. A crowd of 3,853 attended the event. CompuBox showed just how diminant Bivol was in landing 217 of 678 punches thrown, and Pascal landed only 60 of 357 his thrown. When asked who he would like to fight next, Bivol replied, "Doesn't matter to me. I'll fight anybody. I am ready to fight against Alvarez or Kovalev or Badou Jack. I'm ready. Let's make the fight." Pascal rated Bivol as the best in the division. According to Bivol, Pascal's power carried throughout the 12 rounds. Bivol was aware of this after the two sparred in 2016. The fight peaked 537,000 viewers and averaged 467,000 for HBO's final boxing telecast.