Showtime Championship Boxing is back tonight with a rare four-fight bill, headlined by a makeshift main event between Omar Figueroa Jr and Sergey Lipinets.
Figueroa, a former lightweight titlist, was originally meant to face Adrien Broner, but when Broner pulled out citing mental health issues, he was replaced by former 140 lb titleholder Lipinets, who had been set for the prelims, ready to go in case he was needed to be bumped up.
This is Figueroa and Lipinets both moving back down in weight to 140, and both had to strip nude to make the weight on Friday, but that rarely means all that much. They’ll rehydrate and be what they are. Both are coming off of losses; Figueroa has two straight one-sided L’s against Yordenis Ugas and Abel Ramos, while Lipinets is coming off of a beating from Jaron “Boots” Ennis and prior to that had gone to a draw with Custio Clayton.
Two WBA titles are on the line tonight, too, with Alberto Puello facing Batyr Akhmedov for the vacant 140 lb title, and Roger Gutierrez defending his 130 strap against Hector Garcia, with prospect Brandun Lee in action against Will Madera to open the show.
John Hansen will be on the call tonight, with updates and scoring coming in the comments section. Join him!
Main Card (SHO, 8:00 pm ET)
- Omar Figueroa Jr (28-2-1, 19 KO) vs Sergey Lipinets (16-2-1, 12 KO), junior welterweights, 12 rounds
- Alberto Puello (20-0, 10 KO) vs Batyr Akhmedov (9-1, 8 KO), junior welterweights, 12 rounds, for vacant WBA title
- Roger Gutierrez (26-3-1, 20 KO) vs Hector Garcia (15-0, 10 KO), junior lightweights, 12 rounds, for Gutierrez’s WBA title
- Brandun Lee (25-0, 22 KO) vs Will Madera (17-1-3, 10 KO), junior welterweights, 10 rounds