Former junior welterweight world champion Sergey Lipinets (14-1, 10 KOs) takes on former two-division world champion Lamont Peterson (35-4-1, 17 KOs) this Sunday. The twelve round fight will take place at the MGM National Harbor, Oxon Hill, Maryland on FS1 and Fox Deportes.
This bout stylistically has all the potential for a real barnburner. Each guy enjoys slugging out. The fight is a pick’em for some boxing experts with Peterson having home advantage being from Washingtong DC. Lipinets is quite prepared to go 12 but would prefer to end matters inside the distance.
You have spent the better part of your career at 140. How are you adjusting to 147?
Excellent. No problem at all with the move up in weight.
Do you feel you have brought your power from 140 up to 147?
The thing is that at the level that I am fighting you are not going to be knocking people out left and right. My opponents are highly skilled fighters that are not easy to hit with clean shots.
Peterson can fight you different ways. He can come out boxing and then all of the sudden stop and come right at you. What is your plan for that?
My plan is to do whatever it takes to win the fight. If he wants to box, fine, we will box. If he wants to get in the trenches and fight that is even better. That is the reason we have training camp, to be ready for anything.
How much do you feel your experience from the Mikey Garcia fight will help you in this fight?
I learned a lot from that fight. I wasn’t as ready as I thought I was for that fight which is cool. I definitely got something to build on.
What do you feel are your advantages heading into your fight with Peterson?
Not sure. First couple of rounds will show but the bottom line will be who is more conditioned and wants it more. At the end of the day, I’m trying to put up a performance that will establish my standing in the welterweight division. Our styles set up a good scrap for the fans.
Do you feel that you need to be more assertive with your gameplan fighting in his backyard?
100% percent which is why I made a corner change. I have to win every round and if possible not leave it in the hands of the judges.
Who is your new trainer?
I am working with Joe Goossen now. I have full confidence in him. I began training with him after my debut welterweight fight vs Eric Bone. This is my first full camp with him. I had 5 different sparring partners and that’s all I needed to get ready.
Some feel defensive lapses is what hurt you most in your fight with Garcia. Is this something you focused on in preparing for this fight?
We did. Closed a couple of holes in my defense and worked on keeping my hands up. It still might look easy to hit me but it could be a trap to catch my opponent coming in. At the end of the day we are in the business of the paid ranks where you are going to get hit at some point.
Anything you want to say in closing?
I want to thank Al Haymon for guiding my career from my 5th pro fight to present time. My manager Alex Vaysfeld for looking over not only my boxing career but my life in general. TGB Promotion and Louie DeCubas Jr, and Andrew Zak who is an essential part of my team as well.