By Jake Donovan
For a boxer with just ten fights through two years in the pro ranks, Sergey Lipinets (pronounced lip-in-YETS) has already packed in quite a bit of experience in facing a number of different scenarios.
Once a celebrated kickboxer, the emotionless Kazakhstan-born prospect from California by way of Russia is now on the verge of title contention following his latest feat. Lipinets overcame a slow start and a cut to hand Walter Castillo his first career stoppage loss, forcing the early ending late in the 7th round of their Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on ESPN headliner Friday evening at Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, Mississippi.
The bout was competitive early before Lipinets took full control of the action. Ironically, he was in control and on the attack in round four when Castillo connected with a right hand to produce a deep cut over his opponent’s left eye just before the bell. The sequence was incorrectly ruled as the result of an accidental headbutt which meant that – had it been stopped once round five began or any point afterward – it would have gone to the judges’ scorecards.
It never became a factor thanks to the expert work put in by Mike Rodriguez, allowing Lipinets to contend with only a trickle of blood while finishing off the previously undentable Castillo.
“The cut was bugging me a little bit but I have the best guy in the business in my corner Mike Rodriguez and he took care of it,” Lipinets (10-0, 8KOs) told BoxingScene.com through translator and manager Alex Vaysfeld.
Despite the brief facial scare, plans won’t change for the already aggressively matched 27-year old boxer, who now calls Beverly Hills home.
“We’ll match him up the way it makes sense where he’ll get to the championship as soon as possible,” Vaysfeld told BoxingScene.com. “We were making sure he Is seen on TV and it paid off. I think that the boxing world knows how to pronounce his name now.”
Twitter: @JakeNDaBox_v2
