Why the IBF needs to stop getting in the way of undisputed champions taking on the best fights

The sanctioning body already has plans to take their title off of Artur Beterbiev if he does not face their mandatory next

This week, mere days after Artur Beterbiev won an excellent fight with Dmitry Bivol to become undisputed light heavyweight champion, the IBF announced that Beterbiev must defend his title against mandatory challenger Michael Eifert. The news came on the heels of Bivol's team filing an appeal with the IBF -- along with the WBA, WBC and WBO -- over the mildly controversial result of the Beterbiev fight.

Many observers felt Bivol deserved the nod after the conclusion of 12 rounds and a rematch only made sense. The result was far from a robbery, but there was enough debate surrounding the fight between two pound-for-pound elites that everyone from the fighters to the promoters, to the man behind the money to get the first fight done, Turki Alalshikh, all said -- if not demanded -- that a rematch was the prudent course of action.

There's a subtle irony to the fact that Beterbiev vs. Bivol was the rare major boxing match in the modern era that did not contain a rematch clause, which stands as its own issue often dragging down boxing.