Showtime Fight Preview

Sergey Lipinets vs. Mikey Garcia

After sitting out for two years Mikey Garcia (37-0, 30 KO) continues to stay busy.  On March 10 he will try to capture a title in his fourth division when he takes on the undefeated Sergey Lipinets (13-0, 10  KO) on Showtime.  Up for grabs in this bout will be Lipinets' IBF junior welterweight title and he will be making his first defense.  

Lipinets scoring with the jab

Like seemingly every fighter coming out of Kazakhstan these days, Lipinets have plenty of power.  He works out of the orthodox stance and after a hand injury delayed the fight he is now ready to get to work.  Using his jab to get inside, Lipinets loves to pound away with a heavy right hand and while he doesn't have true one-punch knockout power he does do a nice job of breaking opponents down.

Being that Lipinets is bigger and stronger than Garcia his style shouldn't change much.  He will try to get inside on Garcia and do damage with the right hand.  However, even though Lipinets is the champion he is also the underdog in this fight.  He has never faced anyone nearly as talented as Garcia so a win would be the biggest of his career and could propel him into other big fights.

Garcia splitting the guard of Adrien Broner

As far as pure talent goes, not many fighters can claim to be as talented as Garcia.  Out of the orthodox stance he has the ability to outbox nearly any opponent as well as knock them out at any time.  Garcia is a big puncher but it is really his impeccable timing and accuracy that allow him to score his knockouts.

Along with a few highlight reel knockouts on his resume he's also beaten fighters like Adrien Broner, Roman "Rocky" Martinez, and Orlando Salido.  Along with a crisp jab Garcia also has a powerful left hook and right hand and offensively there really isn't anything he can't do.  He has suffered a few knockdowns though which should give Lipinets confidence.

This fight will be a battle between the more one dimensional, come forward, attacking style of Lipinets against the varied attack and skill set of Garcia.  To find success Lipinets will need to get inside on Garcia and pound the body.  That won't be easier though because Garcia has the reach advantage and his jab should bother Lipinets, along with all of the other weapons he will throw at him.

PREDICTION: Even though Sergey Lipinets is a quality power-puncher he isn't in the same class as Mikey Garcia.  Mikey Garcia is a top 10 talent with special skills and even if his power doesn't translate as well in the junior welterweight division, he will be too skilled for Lipinets.  Expect to see Garcia win this fight by a wide unanimous decision.