by David P. Greisman, photo by PBC

Sergey Lipinets will have to wait to challenge for the International Boxing Federation’s junior welterweight title — that’s because the man who holds it, Julius Indongo, will have a unification fight with WBA titleholder Ricky Burns this April instead of taking on his mandatory challenger first.

But Lipinets’ manager doesn’t believe the wait will be too long.

“We respect their decision to go for the unification with Burns, but the IBF is one of the most strictest organizations and will make the winner of that fight fight Sergey,” the manager, Alex Vaysfeld, told BoxingScene.com. “At that point we’ll have three belts on the line — WBA, IBO and IBF.”

The IBO (International Boxing Organization) belt is not considered as one of the four major world titles, though some fighters give it more value. It is also presently held by Indongo, who won it and the IBF title with a stunning one-punch knockout just 40 seconds into the first round of a bout with Eduard Troyanovsky last December.

Lipinets fought a week later in an IBF title eliminator, taking out Lenny Zappavigna in eight rounds. While he will have to wait for his title shot, he won’t be waiting around to fight.

“In the meantime, Sergey will fight another guy from the Top 10 of the division,” Vaysfeld said.

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