The International Boxing Federation has announced that they will hold two purse bids on Tuesday February 3rd for the mandatory title defenses of light heavyweight champ, Dmitry Bivol and welterweight champ Lewis Crocker.
The International Boxing Federation has set next Tuesday, February 3rd as the date for two purse bids involving mandatory world title defenses for Dmitry Bivol at light heavyweight and Lewis Crocker at welterweight.
The first concerns the Russian unified light heavyweight champion Bivol, who is due to defend his title against mandatory challenger Michael Eifert. of Germany
The second involves Irish welterweight titleholder Lewis Crocker, who must face former junior welterweight champion Liam Paro of Australia.
Both purse bids are scheduled for noon ET and will be held at the IBF headquarters in Springfield, New Jersey, with a video conference option available. Promoters still have time to reach agreements, as negotiations remain open until 15 minutes before the bids are unsealed. In each case, the IBF has ordered a 65-35 purse split in favor of their reigning champion.
Bivol, 24-1, 12 KOs is preparing for his first fight since undergoing back surgery in August. The 34 year old comes off a massive majority decision victory over fellow countryman Artur Beterbiev to claim the undisputed 175 lb. crown. That bout in February 2025 was their immediate rematch after Beterbiev had narrowly decisioned Bivol the previous October.
Since then, Bivol has vacated the WBC's version title, which is now held by David Benavidez of the USA. As for Eifert, he's 13-1, 5 KOs, and a 28-year-old has been the IBF mandatory challenger since March 2023. The Bivol Eifert fight is tentatively expected to take place in April.
At welterweight, the 29 year old Crocker, 22-0, 11 KOs, had been close to finalizing his first title defense in a rematch with Conah Walker in his hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Crocker beat Walker by 10 round decision in June of 2024. However, the IBF denied a requested exception, despite Crocker's promoter, Matchroom Boxing, paying a nonrefundable $20,000 fee for consideration.
As a result, Crocker has been ordered to defend his title next against the 29 year old Paro who is (27-1, 16 KOs, and is a former world title holder at junior welterweight himself.
As it is still a few days out and the sides for both fights are negotiating, look for at least one of them to get a deal done before the purse bid process begins for the IBF. This is because the "B side" fighter can often negotiate a better deal for their financial part of the fight by working with the "A side" (the champion in this case) on other specific details like location of the fight, and a co-promotional deal for other fighters to be on the card, etc.