By Ian S Palmer
After a 15 month layoff, former WBC Lightweight Champion Omar Figueroa of Weslaco, Texas returns to the ring to face former IBF Junior Welterweight Champion Sergey Lipinets of Kazakhstan. The 12-round junior welterweight scrap can be seen live in America on Showtime while fans in Canada can catch it on TSN 2. Figueroa last saw action in May of last year when he was stopped after six rounds by Abel Ramos for his second straight loss. Lipinets’ last outing was in April of last year when he was topped in six rounds by Jaron Ennis. This is being billed as a fight for the WBC Silver Super Lightweight Title as both boxers are moving back down to the 140 lb junior welterweight division after several outings as welterweights. Figueroa was supposed to be fighting Adrien Broner this weekend but he pulled out over alleged mental health issues, while many fans believe he simply couldn’t make the weight. Lipinets was originally scheduled to meet Carlos Manuel Portillo on Saturday in an eight-round undercard bout.
The 32-year-old Figueroa enters the ring with mark of 28-2-1 with 19 Ko’s. He’s a fan-friendly action boxer who also has good power with a current knockout ratio of 61.3 per cent. However, he’s fought just four times since December, 2015 and had an 18-month layoff in there as well as another of almost two years. Figueroa stands just over 5-feet-7-inches tall, but has a decent reach of 73 inches, this gives him a half-inch height advantage over Lipinets as well as a six -inch edge in reach.
Figueroa is a former WBC World Lightweight Champion who turned pro back in 2008 and has 154 rounds under his belt since. His first loss came at the hands of Yordenis Ugas by 12-round unanimous decision in a brutal bout in 2019 after being dropped in the first round and was then stopped by Abel Ramos in an equally brutal fight his last time out. The only other blemish on his record is an eight-round split decision draw with Arturo Quintero in 2010. Figueroa has beaten some decent boxers along the way including John Molina. Robert Guerrero, Antonio DeMarco, Jerry Belmontes, Abner Cotto, Nihito Arakawa, Daniel Estrada and Ricky Burns, with several of them being all-out slugfests.
Figueroa is an action-packed fighter who’s pleasing on the eye and just keeps throwing punches until the job’s done. His fight against Nihito Arakawa in the summer of 2013 saw Figueroa land 450 of his power shots, which ranked fourth all-time by Compubox at the time when it comes to volume. He also caught a lot of leather in that bout and proved he’s got a solid chin. Figueroa doesn’t back down once the bell rings and likes to be the aggressor.
Former IBF Super Lightweight Champion Sergey Lipinets won that vacant title in November, 2017 with a unanimous decision over Akihiro Kondo in 2017. The 33-year-old is now 16-2-1 with 12 Kos. He also has pretty good power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 63.2 per cent. Lipinets turned pro in 2014 after a fine amateur career and is also a former WAKO Kickboxing Champion. He has 141 rounds of pro experience and stands 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 67-inch reach.
His first career loss came via a 12-round unanimous decision to Mikey Garcia in March, 2018 in which he lost his IBF Crown in his first defence. His biggest victory was stopping Lamont Peterson in the 10th round in March, 2019. The only other recognizable opponents he’s faced are Erick Bone, Walter Castillo and Cosme Rivera. Lipinets has displayed a pretty good chin so far to go along with his power but was dropped in the seventh round by Garcia and stopped by Ennis. Lipinets also won the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Welterweight Title in July, 2019 when he stopped Jayar Inson in the second round.
Prediction…
Both boxers have been out of the ring for over a year and were expecting to fight different opponents on Saturday night. They’re also both coming off of stoppage losses in their last outings. Figueroa shines when it comes to heart and work ethic but there’s a chance he’s a shot fighter at this point after losing his last two bouts and being involved in so many wars. He’s also been suffering from his own mental health issues recently but believes he’s overcome them now. Figueroa is a volume puncher so if he’s not spent, and that’s a big if, he should be able to outwork Lipinets but needs to watch for the counters. Don’t be surprised by any outcome here since this fight was basically scheduled a few days ago after Broner pulled out, making it somewhat unpredictable. Also, I don’t know what Figueroa has left in the tank. If Figueroa lets his hands go though as he usually does and isn’t just a shell of himself, then he should pull it out.
