Dmitry Bivol remains burdened with his share of mandatory challengers in waiting. 

That list still includes David Benavidez, despite the reigning lineal and unified light heavyweight champion recently vacating his WBC title. 

Benavidez is in the unique situation where he owns a full title from one sanctioning body and a secondary version of another. The unbeaten two-division titlist was recently presented with the WBA ‘World’ light heavyweight title, which came shortly after he was upgraded from interim to full WBC titlist. 

“I want to thank the WBA for presenting me with my first WBA belt,” Benavidez said of the honor. “It's been a belt that I've been wanting to win for a long time and I'm very grateful and happy to be a WBA champion!”

Bivol, 23-1 (12 KOs), still holds the ‘Super’ version of the belt, along with the Ring, IBF and WBO titles. He was forced to vacate the WBC title for refusal to honor an ordered title consolidation bout versus Benavidez, 30-0 (24 KOs), as he remains tied to a third fight with Artur Beterbiev, 21-1 (20 KOs), which is expected to take place later this year. 

At some point, the winner will be ordered to make an overdue IBF mandatory title defense against Germany’s Michael Eifert, 13-1 (5 KOs).  

Benavidez remains very much in the mix as well. WBA representatives confirmed to BoxingScene that a mandatory title defense will be ordered on the other side of the Bivol-Beterbiev rubber match. 

Benavidez became a dual mandatory to the light heavyweight throne after a February 1 unanimous decision win over David Morrell at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 28-year-old Phoenix, Arizona native defended his interim WBC light heavyweight title and claimed Morrell’s WBA ‘World’ title with the victory. 

The win came three weeks before Bivol defeated Beterbiev via majority decision to claim the undisputed light heavyweight championship in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Beterbiev won in the same fashion four months prior, also in Riyadh, to fully unify the division. 

Bivol was given the chance to avenge his lone career defeat, though initially on the condition that the winner face Eifert, since the IBF mandatory was next in the rotation.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman disagreed with that logic and proceeded with his mandatory title consolidation bout, per a ruling from last year’s annual WBC convention. 

Bivol and his legal team attempted to protest the decision, but it fell on deaf ears and he ultimately agreed to give up his WBC belt. 

However long he gets to keep the rest of his belts will first depend on the outcome of his rubber match with Beterbiev. From there, it will depend on the urgency of the sanctioning bodies to enforce their mandatories. 

Meanwhile, plans are being sorted for Benavidez to make a title defense some time this summer. It will be his first as a full WBC light heavyweight titlist, after he previously twice held the WBC super middleweight title. 

Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as a senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.