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Mike Coppinger, ESPN
Subriel Matias will defend his IBF junior welterweight title against Sergey Lipinets on Aug. 26, sources told ESPN on Friday.
The site of the PBC on Showtime fight, which shapes up as a slugfest, was not disclosed.
Matias (19-1, 19 KOs) is one of boxing’s top action fighters. The 31-year-old Puerto Rican boxer captured the vacant IBF 140-pound title in February with a fifth-round TKO of Jeremias Ponce.
Matias’ lone pro defeat came in February 2020 against Petros Ananyan, a decision loss Matias avenged 23 months later with a ninth-round TKO.
Lipinets (17-2-1, 13 KOs) formerly held the IBF junior welterweight title, a vacant belt he won in November 2017 with a decision victory over Akihiro Kondo. He dropped the title in his next fight to Mikey Garcia, and then moved up to 147 pounds.
Lipinets, 34, scored a stoppage victory over Lamont Peterson in a 2019 welterweight fight but was held to a draw with Custio Clayton the following year. In April 2021, Lipinets suffered a sixth-round KO loss to Jaron Ennis before returning to 140 pounds with a victory over Omar Figueroa in August.
Matias is ESPN’s No. 6 boxer at 140 pounds. Lipinets is unranked.