8. Dmitrii Bivol (25-1, 12 KOs)
Dmitrii Bivol is from Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan and was born on December 18th, 1990. He started boxing at six years old and amassed a record of 268-15 in the amateur ranks. He won two world championships at the junior (U-17) level and a bronze medal at the 2008 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in the middleweight division.
He then entered the professional ranks in 2014 with a technical knockout win over Jorge Olivera in Moscow and has competed in the light heavyweight division ever since. In 2017, Bivol defeated Trent Broadhurst in his first fight as the WBA light heavyweight champion. After that win, he defended the title multiple times scoring wins against Sullivan Barrera, Jean Pascal, Joe Smith, and Umar Salamov before facing Canelo Alvarez in 2022. Bivol won by unanimous decision over the Mexican to stamp his name in the pound for pound rankings.
Later that year Bivol took on former super middleweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez and won which had him be a strong candidate for fighter of the year. He had two more defenses of the WBA title before facing Artur Beterbiev last October for the undisputed light heavyweight championship. In that bout, Beterbiev won by split decision giving Bivol his first pro loss, but on February 22nd Bivol was able to get revenge to become the new undisputed light heavyweight champion.
Bivol suffered an injury which sidelined him for the remainder of 2025, and he returned to the ring on May 30th 2026 to fight Michael Eifert in Russia. Bivol won by unanimous decision and now looks to defend the unifed titles against either Callum Smith or David Benavidez.
