Sunday, May 19, 2024  |

News

Ex-champ Sergey Lipinets in ’50-50 fight’ tonight against Robbie Davies Jr.

Sergey Lipinets jabs at the ever-advancing Akihiro Kondo en route to a 12-round unanimous decision. Photo / @ShowtimeBoxing
Fighters Network
08
May

The clash between Sergey Lipinets and Robbie Davies, Jr. is about as even as it gets.

Lipinets will face Davies tonight at the Whitesands (also known as the ProBox TV) Events Center in Plant City, Florida. The 10-round bout will headline a four-bout card that will stream live on the ProBox TV YouTube page and application (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT).

At Tuesday’s weigh-in, both fighters weighed in at 141.6 pounds.

Both fighters are in need of a win, as the winner of tonight’s clash is back amongst the contenders in a very competitive and deep 140-pound division. ProBox TV’s Chris Glover could not stress enough how even the fight is between Lipinets and Davies, which could produce an excellent fight.



“No one can really say who will win,” Glover told The Ring Tuesday. “This is a 50-50 fight. It’s really a pick’em fight between two solid fighters at 140 pounds.”

Lipinets (17-3-1, 13 knockouts), who is originally from Martuk, Kazakhstan and now resides in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, California, lost a close unanimous decision to Michel Rivera in his last fight on November 25. In his previous fight in August 2022, Lipinets stopped former world lightweight titleholder Omar Figueroa in a one-sided fight.

In November 2017, Lipinets won the vacant IBF world junior welterweight title, defeating Akihiro Kondo of Japan by unanimous decision. Lipinets would lose the title over four months later, dropping a decision to then-unbeaten Mikey Garcia.

The 35-year-old would go unbeaten in his next four bouts after the loss to Garcia, including defeating the likes of Erick Bone and Lamont Peterson, before losing by knockout to Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in April 2021.

Like Lipinets, Davies is coming off a loss in his last fight, losing by knockout to Darragh Foley on March 23 of last year. Davies was dropped in the second round and again during the third round that resulted in an injured ankle, which prevented him from continuing.

Davies (23-4, 15 KOs), who is originally from Liverpool, England, notched his two notable victories of his career prior to the loss to Foley. In May 2022, Davies won by split-decision against U.S. Olympian and top prospect Javier Molina in a close fight. He also notched a knockout victory over former world title challenger Henry ‘Hank’ Lundy in December 2021.

Prior to the defeat to Foley, the 34-year-old Davies had won three in a row since a defeat to fringe contender Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela.

In the co-feature, unbeaten heavyweight prospect Fernely Feliz, Jr. will square off against once-beaten Cesar Navarro in an eight-round bout.

Feliz (7-0, 6 KOs), who resides in Bethel, Connecticut, stopped Raphael Carolina in the sixth and final round of his last bout on December 16. 

Navarro (11-1, 9 KOs) has fought all of his fights in Phoenix, Arizona and his hometown of Agua Prieta, Mexico. In his last bout on December 2, which was fought at light heavyweight, Navarro defeated journeyman Jesus Haro Campos by unanimous decision. 

Lightweight prospect Tsendbaatar Erdenebat (9-0, 4 KOs) of Mongolia will face Puerto Rico’s Alberto Mercado (17-6-1, 4 KOs) in an eight-round bout.

In a clash of unbeaten junior lightweights, 19-year-old Robert Meriwether III (5-0, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada will square off against Mexico’s Victor Lopez Gala (5-0, 3 KOs) in a six-round bout. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

SIGN UP TO GET RING NEWS ALERTS