Sergey Lipinets defeats Akihiro Kondo – Results

By Boxing News - 11/04/2017 - Comments

Image: Sergey Lipinets defeats Akihiro Kondo - Results

By Jeff Aranow: Undefeated Sergey Lipinets (13-0, 10 KOs) won an easy 12 round unanimous decision over #3 IBF Akihiro Kondo (29-7-1, 16 KOs) on Saturday night to capture the vacant International Boxing Federation light welterweight title at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

(Photo credit: Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment)

The judges scored the fight for Lipinets by the scores 118-110, 117-111 and 117-111. It was a really one-sided punishing fight with the 28-year-old Lininets dishing out a lot of hard shots to Kondo, 32, who took the shots well. With the victory, Lipinets picks up Terence Crawford’s old title.

Crawford vacated the IBF belt shortly after the IBF ordered him to defend against Lipinets. It wasn’t that Crawford was afraid of taking on the Russian fighter. It was more of a case of Crawford being more interested in moving up to 147 so that he can go after the bigger names in that division like Manny Pacquiao, Jeff Horn and Keith Thurman.

Lipinets got the better of Kondo in rounds 1-8. Lipinets seemed to fade a little in the last four rounds of the fight, as Kondo started to land body shots that. Lipinets continued to get the better of Kondo, but the return fire from the Japanese fighter definitely had its effect.

It was fortunate for Lipinets that he was fighting a very limited fighter in Kondo. Had this been Crawford inside the ring, he would have been in trouble. Lipinets suffered a cut over his left eye in the 6th from a head-butt.

In rounds 9-12, Kondo gave a good account of himself in landing some nice shots. Lipinets was firing back with big punches, but he’d lost a lot of the power on his punches by that point in the fight. It wasn’t the same Lipinets that had dominated the first 6 rounds of the contest.

In the 12th, Lipinets had to fend off a serious attack from Kondo, who came out looking to score a knockout. Kondo took the fight to Lipinets, hitting him with some hurtful shots, and forcing him to fight harder than he wanted to.

Overall, Lipinets looked decent in winning the fight. However, it’s going to be tough for Lipinets to hang onto his IBF title. Guys like Julius Indongo. Ivan Baranchyk and Anthony Yigit must be chomping at the bit looking forward to getting a crack at Lipinets. He doesn’t look like he’s going to be able to hold onto his title for any length of time with all the talented contenders in the division looking forward to fighting him.

It’s good in a way that Crawford has moved up in weight, because it gives some of the other contenders a chance to win a world. Lipinets would have never been able to win a title without Crawford vacating and moving up in weight.

Image: Sergey Lipinets defeats Akihiro Kondo - Results

Image: Sergey Lipinets defeats Akihiro Kondo - Results

Image: Sergey Lipinets defeats Akihiro Kondo - Results

Image: Sergey Lipinets defeats Akihiro Kondo - Results

Image: Sergey Lipinets defeats Akihiro Kondo - Results

Image: Sergey Lipinets defeats Akihiro Kondo - Results

Image: Sergey Lipinets defeats Akihiro Kondo - Results

Image: Sergey Lipinets defeats Akihiro Kondo - Results

Image: Sergey Lipinets defeats Akihiro Kondo - Results