On March 3, 2018, Dmitry Bivol defeated Sullivan Barrera by TKO in the 12th round in a WBA light heavyweight world title bout at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City, New York, USA. Bivol dominated the fight with clean boxing, sharp combinations, and control of distance, breaking Barrera down over the rounds before dropping him in the final round and forcing the referee to stop the contest at 1:41 of round 12.