By Jeff Aranow: IBF light welterweight champion Sergey Lipinets (13-0, 10 KOs) says he’s ready to beat Mikey Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) and take his position in the sport on February 10 in their Showtime televised fight at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
(Photo Credit: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME)
Lipinets comes from Kazakhstan, and he’s an excellent puncher like many of the fighters from that country. Lipinets has a lot of power in his shots. If he can last long enough to nail Mikey with one of his own hard blasts, he might knock him out. At the very least, Lipinets could wear Mikey down and make him think twice about letting his hands go.
Mikey is usually fearless in his fights when it comes to throwing his power punches. Mikey has been fighting at 126, 130 and 135. It might be a different story when Mikey gets inside the ring with Lipinets on February 10 and starts getting hit by him. Mikey’s last fight was against light welterweight Adrien Broner on July 29, but he was dealing with a weight drained fighter.
”I’m aiming to get a win any way that I can,” said Lipinets. ”I will be ready for anything in the ring. I want to show the world what I can do.”
What Lipinets has going against him in this fight is his lack of quality opposition during his pro career. Lipinets has been carefully matched by his management. He’s not been put in with the better fighters in the 140 lb. division, so it’s difficult to gauge how good he is.
On paper, Lipinets has very little hope of upsetting Garcia. He’s slower, weaker, less experienced and not as technically sound. What Lipinets does have going for him is his size, toughness, and the fact that Garcia hasn’t been hit by guys with the same kind of power that he possesses.
”I also have the speed and strength to win. I will show my devastating power on February 10,” said Lipinets.
Lipinets doesn’t have devastating power. I rate his power below Kiryl Relikh, who may be the biggest puncher in the 140 lb. division today. Lipinets hits hard enough though to give Garcia problems. It’s not easy to hit Garcia without getting countered by something. If Lipinets is willing to take some major shots from Garcia the way that Orlando Salido did in his fight with him in 2013, he might have a chance of pulling off an upset. But Lipinets is going to need to take some serious punishment for him to wear Garcia down. Adrien Broner tried to wear Garcia down, but it didn’t work. Garcia on his bike and used a stick and move approach in the final 6 rounds of the fight. Lipinets will need to be quick on his feet, because Garcia is not going to make it easy for him to land.