Dmitry Bivol has decided to put his health first.

The light heavyweight champion will miss the remainder of 2025 after undergoing successful back surgery, he told The Ring. He is expected to recover in six to eight weeks.

“Following my doctor’s advice, I had to undergo surgery for an older back injury which I’ve been dealing with for over 10 years,” Bivol said. “It kept getting worse with each training camp.”

Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) is coming off the most significant victory of his career, a majority decision over fellow Russian Artur Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) that gave him The Ring and all four sanctioning body titles.

Beterbiev had outpointed Bivol the previous October, meaning their rivalry now stands at one victory apiece.

Initially, Bivol and Beterbiev expressed interest in scheduling a trilogy in their native Russia and it was believed that Turki Alalshikh, owner of The Ring and head of Riyadh Season, gave them his blessing to do so after overseeing the previous two undisputed bouts. However, the fighters opted to go different directions.

According to Beterbiev, Bivol pulled out and that left him furious. Unwilling to wait any longer, Beterbiev decided to move on and he will instead face Deon Nicholson on Nov. 22, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“Our next fight was supposed to take place in Russia,” Beterbiev wrote on his Instagram account. “You know what we’re talking about now. The third fight with Dmitry Bivol. We were offered great conditions, which were almost impossible to refuse.

"For my part, I did everything to make the third fight happen, but my opponent chose the path of retreat again. I've waited long enough and I don't intend to wait any longer. Sitting around doing nothing while someone else is resting is too much.”

Perhaps Beterbiev now understands Bivol's reasoning. The champion did his best to push past the constant back pain but he could no longer do so. After surgery, he's looking forward to being healthy.

“Everything went well and I’m feeling much better already,” Bivol said. “Six-to-eight-week recovery period lies ahead, after which I plan to start training again. Thank you all for your support. I look forward to new challenges in the new year.”

Vadim Kornilov, Bivol’s manager, gives his client his full support.

“Dmitry had four big fights in a row recently," Kornilov said. "He is very responsible and treated every opportunity with respect. But now we had to first deal with an elbow problem which was taunting him.

"When he started getting back in the gym, his back pain started getting worse and worse. The doctors told him it would only deteriorate.

"When we contemplated, Dmitry told me that he would rather deal with it now, instead of possibly having to cancel a fight during camp later. I support him 100 percent in this.”