Sergey Lipinets Batters Walter Castillo In Breakout Performance
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Boxing Scene - By Jake Donovan
Welcome to the contender level, Sergey Lipinets.
The unbeaten rising super lightweight continues his rapid ascension through the ranks. His latest effort was a true breakout performance, battering veteran contender Walter Castillo en route to a 7th round stoppage win in the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on ESPN-televised headliner Friday evening at Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, Mississippi.
True to form, Lipinets all but gave away the opening round versus Castillo, who was fighting for the first time since a highly questionable draw verdict he was gifted versus Keita Obara in their title eliminator last November. An ordered rematch was scratched when the Nicaraguan's team decided to take his career in a different direction.
It led to a dead end, at least once the bell rang to begin round two.
By then, Lipinets - born in Kazakhstan but who has lived in Russia before relocating to California - was warmed up and dialed in with his offensive-minded attack. All but ignoring the instructions from trainer and former two-division champ James 'Buddy' McGirt to double up on his jab, the unbeaten 27-year old - who boasts a rich background in various forms of combat sports, including kickboxing - plowed forward with overhand rights and occasional body work, breaking down Castillo with each passing round.
A potential bullet was dodged in two ways when Lipinets suffered a cut at the end of what was otherwise a dominant round four. The official ruling from referee Bill Clancy was that it was caused by a clash of heads, but superior work by the tech team in the ESPN truck unearthed proof that it came courtesy of a straight right hand from Castillo in what turned out to be his last hurrah.
Had the bout been stopped because of the cut at any point beyond round four, it would have landed in the hands of the judges thanks to the official ruling. It never came to that, thanks to incredible corner work put in by cutman Mike Rodriguez, who disallowed the wound to become a factor.
From there, Lipinets took care of the rest. A strong round five was followed up by a power-punching surge in the sixth, landing 23 punches in the three-minute frame - as many as Devis Boschiero landed in 12 rounds versus Mario Barrios in last Saturday's miserable PBC on ESPN headliner.
More pain was on its way in round seven, but Castillo was spared a prolonged beating. Lipinets had knockout on his mind - again, going for the kill in spite of McGirt's insistence to hang back and box - with Clancy jumping in to rescue Castillo from additional punishment.
The official time was 2:45 of round seven.
Lipinets picks up his second straight televised knockout of 2016, improving overall to 10-0 (8KOs). The win comes on the heels of a FS1-aired stoppage win this past March over Levan Ghavimichava, who recently bounced back with a 7th round knockout victory of his own versus Breidis Prescott earlier this week.
Castillo is winless in his last two starts as he falls to 26-4-1 (19KOs). The loss marked the first time he's been stopped in 31 career fights.
UNDERCARD
Tugstsogt Nyambayar remains a knockout every time out. The 2012 Olympic Silver medalist from Mongolia tore through Brooklyn-based featherweight Rafael Vasquez, scoring three knockdowns in a 1st round stoppage in their televised co-feature.
Little was learned of Nyambayar, other than he boasts a potent right hand against which Vazquez simply could not defend. It was the weapon of choice for all three knockdowns, the first of which came just 30 seconds into the bout. A straight right hand upstairs deposited Vazquez on the canvas for a mandatory eight count.
Soon thereafter came the second knockdown of the night, when a combination to the body and head floored Vazquez hard. The end was near, with Nyambayar going all in to close the show. A series of right hands upstairs produced the fight-ending third knockdown, with referee Keith Hughes waving off the bout without issuing a count.
The official time was 1:24 of round one.
Nyambayar - who is now based out of Carson, Calif. - improves to 6-0 (6KOs), excluding his time spent in the World Series of Boxing. The 38-year old Vazquez, who was competitive in a loss to Ryan Kielczewski last October, falls to 16-3 (13KOs).
With plenty of time to kill, unproven "prospects" David Perez and Adan Ortiz (9-2, 8KOs) saw their six-round bout make it to the screen. It turned out to be an unexpected treat, with Perez (7-0, 3KOs) scoring an opening round knockdown en route to a unanimous decision win by scores were 60-53, 59-54 and 58-55.
Twitter: @JakeNDaBox_v2