He has held the undisputed[a] light-heavyweight championship since February 2025, as well as the International Boxing Organization (IBO) and Ring magazine titles.

As an amateur, Bivol won the gold medal at the 2013 World Combat Games in the 81 kg weight category.

[14] Bivol won the interim WBA light heavyweight title on 21 May 2016, beating previously undefeated Felix Valera by unanimous decision (119–107, 119–107, 116–111).

[28] Next Bivol faced the toughest test of his career on 3 March 2018 and dominated Sullivan Barrera (21–2, 14 KO) and stopped him in the 12th and final round.

Bivol was able to outbox and out-punch Barrera throughout the fight, then exploded suddenly with a massive right hand that put the Cuban down halfway into the final frame.

[33] On 6 June 2018, Main Events announced that Bivol would make a defence against 31-year-old, longtime contender Isaac Chilemba (25–5–2, 10 KOs) on 4 August at the Etess Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

With the other light heavyweight titleholders already scheduled to make defences, Kornilov stated, "We're trying to get the biggest name we can to get Dmitry more exposure fighting top guys.

A month later, TVA Sports and The Montreal Journal reported that former unified champion Jean Pascal (33–5–1, 20 KOs) was in talks to fight Bivol on 24 November 2018.

His first fight on the platform was announced to take place against Joe Smith Jr. (24-2, 20 KOs) on 9 March at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

[57][58] On 16 September, Matchroom announced Bivol's sixth defence would come against 31 year old Dominican boxer Lenin Castillo (20-2-1, 15 KOs) on 12 October at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

[63] Bivol dropped Castillo in the sixth round with a counter right hand en route to a convincing unanimous decision victory, with scores of 119–108, 119–108, and 120–107, in what some described as a slow pace fight.

[69] On 19 February 2021, it was revealed that Bivol would make the second defense of his WBA (Super) title against the #8 ranked WBA light heavyweight contender Craig Richards (14-1-1 9 KOs), scheduled for the undercard of the Dereck Chisora and Joseph Parker heavyweight clash, which took place on 1 May at the Manchester Arena.

[81] On 22 November 2021, it was announced that Bivol would make his third WBA (Super) title defense against Umar Salamov (26-1, 19 KOs) on 11 December at the KRK Uralets in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

[88][89][90] It was announced on 25 February 2022 that Bivol would be making the fourth defense of his WBA (Super) title against 4-division world champion Canelo Álvarez on 7 May in a bout that would be televised as sports streaming service DAZN's first pay-per-view offering in the United States and Canada.

Álvarez gained Bivol's attention when he landed a clean right uppercut on his chin to close the fourth round.

Bivol claimed he was the best in the division and apologised to his promoter Eddie Hearn, who had recently had the Álvarez-Golovkin trilogy fight signed for September 2022.

[99][100][101] Despite the widespread public opinion that Bivol was the deserved winner, Álvarez disagreed with this notion, stating in his post-fight interview: "I don't feel like I lost the fight...

[104] Despite this, a rematch between Álvarez and Bivol did not materialize immediately, as the former opted to face WBA (Super) and IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in a trilogy bout as his opponent for his next fight instead.

[105] On 11 July 2022, the WBA ordered Bivol to make a mandatory title defence against the former WBO super middleweight champion and current top contender Gilberto Ramírez (44-0, 30 KOs).

[106] His promoters, Matchroom Boxing, asked for an exemption to bypass a mandatory title defence against Ramírez and instead face Joshua Buatsi.

[122] During the post-fight interview, Bivol stated his desire to face the unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev in a title unification bout.

[124] On 2 May 2023, the WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman revealed to ESPN that the sanctioning body had declared Bivol ineligible to face the unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev due to the ongoing sanctions for Russian and Belarusian fighters following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[125] Despite rumours that he would rematch Canelo Álvarez, Bivol's manager Vadim Kornilov instead revealed on 26 September that his fighter was in talks with Anthony Yarde, Lyndon Arthur, Radivoje Kalajdzic and Jaime Munguía for a planned December bout.

[131] On 14 November 2023, it was announced that Bivol would defend his WBA title against IBO light heavyweight champion Lyndon Arthur (23-1, 16 KOs).

[141] Bivol was expected to face the unified WBC, WBO and IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) for the undisputed title on 1 June 2024.

[151] Following Bivol's routine title defence on 1 June against Zinad, Turki Alalshikh announced the undisputed fight would take place on 12 October at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.

Beterbiev's punch power broke through Bivol's defence on many occasions, which explained the bruising on his hand and the swelling on his eye.

[168][169] Angry fans took to social media to voice their disappointment of the news as it would jeopardise a rematch between Bivol and Beterbiev to have all four titles on the line.

The IBF was next in regards to the mandatory rotation according to the WBA and WBO, however WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman stated David Benavidez was next in line.

In another tactical chess fight, this time it was Bivol, who put on a skilful performance and gained revenge on Beterbiev via majority decision.