By Francisco Salazar
Hard-hitting junior welterweight Ivan Baranchyk may feel right at home tonight when he faces Wilberth Lopez at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.
It will be Baranchyk’s fourth consecutive time fighting at that venue. The eight round bout will be part of a six-bout Holden Promotions card.
Baranchyk (12-0, 10 KOs), who is originally from Amursk, Russia and currently resides in Brooklyn, N.Y., is coming off a one-sided eight round unanimous decision over Zhimin Wang on September 23.
“He has created quite a following in Miami,” promoter Lou DiBella told Boxingscene.com earlier this week. “Ivan has become very popular to the boxing fans there. They warm up to him each time he fights there.”
The fight against Wang aired on Showtime’s “ShoBox” series, along with his first round knockout win over Nicholas Givran on March 25. Baranchyk knocked out Givren in 21 seconds.
In his last bout on October 21, Lopez (15-6, 10 KOs) lost a close eight round majority decision to Juan Ruiz. The loss snapped a 10-bout winning streak for Lopez.
Unbeaten heavyweight Trey Lippe (12-0, 12 KOs), who was born in nearby Vinita, will face Ty Cobb (19-7, 11 KOs) in an eight round bout.
Lippe, the son of former heavyweight titleholder Tommy Morrison, also fought on the September 23 card, knocking out Ed Latimore in the opening round.
Also on the card, lightweight contender Billel Dib (20-1, 10 KOs) will face Carlos Padilla (16-4-1, 10 KOs) in an eight round bout.
Dib, the younger brother of Billy Dib, is ranked number five by the WBO and has won his last 11 bouts.
Junior middleweight Dillon Cook (17-1, 7 KOs) will square off against Juan Jesus Rivera (28-15, 18 KOs) in an eight round bout.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
