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IBF Orders Beterbiev And Opetaia To Face Mandatory Challengers, Question Marks Surround Quality Of Contenders

IBF Orders Beterbiev And Opetaia To Face Mandatory Challengers featured image
Artur Beterbiev has been ordered by the IBF to face German contender Michael Eifert in a mandatory bout, provided a rematch with Dmitry Bivol is not set to occur. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

Russian-Canadian undisputed light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Australian IBF champion Jai Opetaia have been ordered to face their respective challengers in German contenders Michael Eifert and Huseyin Cinkara. Both Eifert and Cinkara occupy the #1 position on the IBF’s rankings in the light-heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions respectively, but aside from the fact they both share the same nationality, they also appear to be lowly-rated by other sanctioning bodies, driving questions as to their suitability towards being picked as world title challengers.

In the case of Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KO’s), who last weekend became the undisputed champion of the light-heavyweight (175 lbs) division, Beterbiev will receive an exemption to face Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KO’s) in a rematch according to boxing reporter Dan Rafael:

BREAKING: Among various mandatory orders on Thursday, the IBF ordered Artur Beterbiev to next make the organization’s mandatory vs. Michael Eifert,Rafael reported on social media yesterday. “However, per the IBF, it would consider a request for an exception for a potential Bivol rematch.

This request seems to have been initiated by Bivol’s manager, Vadim Kornilov, based on an appeal filed to every single one of the sanctioning bodies earlier this week. With Kornilov having earlier expressed his concern about one of the 175 lbs undisputed fight’s scorecards and judges, it appears Bivol and his team are seeking recompense by looking to rematch Beterbiev.

At cruiserweight (200 lbs), IBF champion Jai Opetaia (26-0, 20 KO’s) and #1 IBF 175 lbs contender Huseyin Cinkara (22-0, 18 KO’s) have been mandated by the IBF to start negotiations for a mandatory bout.

Glaringly, both German nationals Michael Eifert (13-1, 5 KO’s) and Cinkara are not considered top 10 contenders with every sanctioning body, suggesting their ability is still exceeded by other, more deserving contenders, who are considered top 10 fighters in rankings outside of the IBF.

Though every sanctioning body applies their own reasoning for the creation of their rankings, the common denominator in fighters who become mandatory challengers is that they are usually ranked in the top 10 on every organization’s ranking board. A vivid example of this is British contender Anthony Yarde at light-heavyweight who’s currently in the top 10 with all four of the main sanctioning bodies while Eifert is only ranked that high with the IBF.

At cruiserweight, Cinkara does occupy the #5 position on the WBA’s 200 lbs rankings but has yet to impress the WBC or WBO to be acknowledged as a top 10 contender, thus there is more of a case to make for Cinkara in being a deserving contender. However, Cinkara’s position too appears to be tenable given there are genuinely better contenders who are more highly-rated―including Polish contender Michal Cieslak (26-2, 20 KO’s) who has been rated in the top 10 for several years. Cieslak is further a former world title challenger, having challenged for the IBF belt when he faced then-champion Lawrence Okolie in 2022. Cieslak lost that contest by unanimous decision (UD).

This is not the first time the IBF has put questionable contenders into the position of world title challengers. Just a few months ago, the IBF ordered Cuban contender William Scull (22-0, 9 KO’s) and Russian contender Vladimir Shishkin (16-0, 10 KO’s) to face each other for the vacant IBF super middleweight (168 lbs) title. Both fighters will be facing each other tomorrow on Saturday, October 19, but they too did not impress any of the other sanctioning bodies prior to the IBF’s mandate, and would likely not be considered world title challengers with any of the other organizations.

Additionally, there is more than just the questionable ability of IBF’s chosen contenders at play here. The connection to Germany is too frequent to be just a coincidence. Eifert and Cinkara both being German fighters is one thing, but they belong to a list of more German nationals or residents including William Scull himself who resides in Germany. Conveniently, Scull’s upcoming fight with Shishkin is also set to take place in Germany.

Then there was middleweight (160) German contender Vincenzo Gualtieri (22-1-1, 7 KO’s) who was put in the position to challenge for the vacant IBF 160 lbs title against Brazilian contender Esquiva Falcao (30-2, 20 KO’s) in 2023. Gualtieri would go on to lose that match by UD before losing his IBF title in a unification fight against current WBO & IBF Kazakh champion Janibek Alimkhanuly (16-0, 11 KO’s) in 2023.

Jack Culcay (33-5, 14 KO’s) is another German contender that received an opportunity to fight for a world title without necessarily being recognized a top 10 contender with other sanctioning bodies. Earlier this year, he and Russian contender Bakhram Murtazaliev (22-0, 16 KO’s) faced each other for the vacant IBF super welterweight (154 lbs) title. Murtazaliev would go on to win the match by knockout (KO) in the 11th round after a tough fight with the German contender.

Favoritism for German or Germany-based fighters aside, the IBF might benefit from looking at its policy of creating rankings and picking mandatory challengers to identify the ideal opponent that would be considered a genuine challenger with other sanctioning bodies. As was depicted by the fight between Alimkhanuly and Gualtieri, contenders need to be carefully picked so they provide an actual challenge in future unification fights or title defenses―and further to prevent ill-picked challengers from suffering needless damage in the ring.

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