Premier Boxing Champions 2016: Fight Card and TV Schedule for March 15
Former kickboxing champion and current 140-pound contender Sergey Lipinets will put his unbeaten boxing record on the line Tuesday at the Robinson Rancheria Resort and Casino in Nice, California.
In the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions doubleheader on Fox Sports 1, the 26-year-old Lipinets (8-0, 6 KO) will face Levan "The Wolf" Ghvamichava (16-1-1, 12 KO) in a junior welterweight scrap.
In the co-main event, another unbeaten prospect will be in action. The 20-year-old Mario "Golden Boy" Barrios (14-0, 8 KO) will clash with Erick Daniel Martinez (11-4-1, 5 KO). Both Lipinets and Barrios are still in the proving-ground stage of their careers.
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This midweek card will serve as each man's latest attempt to hone his skills and gain a larger following. Here's the viewing information for the event.
TV: Fox Sports 1
Day and Time: Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET
Looking for a New Challenge
After rising to the mountaintop in the sport of kickboxing, Lipinets has set himself on a path to obtain similar success in boxing. Per Marty Mulcahey of Undisputed Champion Network, Lipinets said:
"In kickboxing, I have achieved everything but boxing is close to me in spirit. I’ve always wanted to train overseas, in the United States, a Mecca of boxing. Now my dream has come true and, for that, I want to say a big thank you to coach Sergei Konikovu, who helped me go from kickboxing into professional boxing.
"
So far, Konikovu has pushed the right buttons with Lipinets. On October 30, he defeated Haskell Rhodes via unanimous decision. It was the first time an opponent managed to go the distance with the hard-hitting Kazakh.
Ghvamichava won't be an easy opponent to restart a KO streak against. He's lost just once in 18 pro bouts and wasn't stopped in that lone defeat. The 30-year-old Georgian won an eight-round unanimous decision over Cameron Kreal just one day after Lipinets scored his victory over Rhodes.
With the popularity of his countryman Gennady Golovkin at an all-time high, Lipinets has an opportunity to gain some exposure as the spotlight widens on fighters from Kazakhstan. An impressive performance from Lipinets on national television could vault him to the next level in the PBC machine.
The New Golden Boy
Barrios is coming off a sixth-round KO win over Manuel Vides in December. He'll be looking to end Tuesday night's bout in similar fashion.
To put it plainly, the Barrios vs. Martinez bout is a massive mismatch. Martinez has lost four fights in a row and has been stopped in each of the last two. Most recently, Min Wook Kim finished Martinez with a body shot in the fifth round.
Barrios is nicknamed "Golden Boy" and is being served a royal cupcake in this fight. At a legit six feet tall, Barrios' size presents an immediate issue for Martinez, whose height isn't published. However, the eye test suggests he's close to 5'8".
With such a long string of losses in his recent fight history, Martinez is at the point of his career where he's moving into the club-fighter stratosphere. Fighters like him expect to lose and usually do. Even before the defeats began to pile up, he offered little punching power, as evidenced by his modest KO total.
This bout is designed to be a showcase for Barrios. Hopefully, Martinez doesn't have to take too much of a beating in a bout where the result is almost a foregone conclusion.
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