By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten IBF Super Lightweight Champion Sergey Lipinets of Kazakhstan will be defending his title against undefeated WBC Lightweight Champion Mikey Garcia this weekend. The 12-round fight goes Saturday, March 10th at Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. The 12-rounder can be seen live in America on Showtime while Canadian fans can catch it on TSN 1 and 5 and those in the UK and Ireland can view it on BoxNation. Garcia last fought in July when he beat Adrien Broner by a 12-round unanimous decision. Lipinets last fight took place in November when he beat Akihiro Kondo by unanimous decision to win the vacant title.
The 28-year-old champion Lipinets is a perfect 12-0 along with 10 Kos. He obviously has some power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 77 per cent. Lipinets turned pro in 2014 after a fine amateur career and is also a former WAKO Kickboxing Champion. He stands 5-feet-7-inches tall and has a 67-inch reach. If there is a knock against Lipinets it’s the quality of opposition he’s faced up to now in his career. The only names that may be familiar to most fans are Walter Castillo and Cosme Rivera.
Lipinets has displayed a solid chin to go along with his power so far, but will be taking a gigantic leap up in class when he meets Garcia. He doesn’t have any size advantage really as he’s just an inch taller than Garcia, but his reach is an inch shorter. He’ll need to somehow negate Garcia’s speed and power on Saturday night and earn some respect for his own power by landing something of significance early in the fight. If he doesn’t, Garcia will simply walk through him.
The 30-year-old Garcia of Ventura, California will climb through the ring with a perfect 37-0 record with 30 of his wins coming by Ko. He has a 68-inch reach and stands 5-feet-6-inches tall. He’s also a former world featherweight and super featherweight champion who was inactive most of 2014 and 2015 due to promotional issues. Garcia has better than average power with a current knockout ratio of 81 per cent and is also a quick, solid boxer with no apparent weaknesses. He’s fought 190 rounds since turning pro back in 2006.
There isn’t really a weak side to Garcia’s game as his speed, power and boxing skills have simply been too much for all of his opponents so far. Garcia has some impressive wins against quality opponents such as Broner, Juan Carlos Burgos, Roman Martinez, Juan Manuel Lopez, Rafael Guzman, Orlando Salido, Jonathan Barros and Mauricio Pastrana. He’s basically the total package and it’s too bad he missed so much time away from the sport.
Garcia’s still still young enough to be in his prime, but he may not be as well known to the average boxing fan as he should be. He’s simply one of the best out there pound for pound and is fighting at the 140 lb. weight limit for the second time. If Garcia manages to win on Saturday night it’ll be his fourth world title in different weight divisions. It’s hard to say if Garcia will risk moving up another division to welterweight, but he did lose to Terence Crawford in the amateurs so you never know.
Prediction…
Garcia’s en elite boxer/puncher, but still can’t take Lipinets lightly due to his power. It’s hard to see Garcia losing this fight though unless he walks into something and gets nailed with the perfect shot. Look for Garcia to add another title belt to his collection on Saturday night.
