Lipinets squeaks by Bone by majority decision.
Recently, Sergey Lipinets expressed displeasure about not being included in the light welterweight WBSS tournament by moving up to welterweight.
His division debut came on the undercard of Berto/Alexander against respected journeyman Erick Bone.
Initially, the former IBF champion had problems adjusting to the change. Particularly, to the weight and the durability of the bigger opponents. Out of five loses, Bone had only been knocked out once to Shawn Porter who himself is a big welterweight.
The underdog took full advantage of understanding he had a smaller opponent and was very successful in playing the bully. He often out-worked Lipinets in the early rounds. In return, this took away some of his confidence as Bone would walk through his shots.
However, the former champion showed he was the smarter fighter out of the two and was able to make the necessary adjustments as the bout progressed. The story became “the harder more accurate puncher vs the more active fighter.”
In the end, one judge could not decide while the other two thought the more accurate shots from Lipinets were enough to give him the fight. The final scorecards were: 99-91, 98-92, 95-95.
Lipinets improves to 14-1 with 10 knockouts. The question of whether he can survive at welterweight is still up in the air.
By: EJ Williams
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