Sergey Lipinets

After winning 10 pro bouts, Lipinets faced Lenny Zappavigna in an IBF eliminator. The winner would become the mandatory challenger to the IBF champion, the winner of an April 2017 bout between Ricky Burns and Julius Indongo. Lipinets proved to be too much for Zappavigna, as the latter went down during round 5 before being counted out following a right straight from Lipinets in round 8. Both fighters suffered several cuts during the fight.[5]

Following Indongo's win over Burns, Lipinets tried to start negotiations with the IBF champion.[6] However, the IBF granted Indongo an exception to allow him to unify all the major light welterweight titles against Terence Crawford. After Crawford's win over Indongo, the IBF ordered Crawford to defend his title against Lipinets.[7] Lipinets stated that the IBF title was "stolen from him".[8] As Crawford didn't plan to return to the ring before the IBF's deadline, he vacated the IBF title just 11 days after defeating Indongo.[9]

The IBF ordered Lipinets to face Akihiro Kondo for their vacant title.[10] The fight was finalized for 4 November on the undercard of a Deontay Wilder bout. The event was televised on Showtime.[11] Lipinets became the IBF champion, winning by unanimous decision (118–110, 117–111, 117–111). The decision was booed upon being announced but several media outlets scored it for Lipinets, albeit on closer cards. Lipinets connected to Kondo's body often throughout the fight, but Kondo remained unfazed by the body shots. Kondo kept coming forward and rocked Lipinets in round 5. Lipinets was cut by an accidental head clash midway through the fight.[12][13][14]

On 24 October 2020, Lipinets faced Custio Clayton who was ranked #4 by the WBO, #5 by the IBF and #10 by the WBA. The bout ended in a majority draw, with two of the judges scoring the fight 114-114, 114-114, while the third judge saw Clayton as the winner scoring it 115-113 in his favor.[15]

In his next bout, Lipinets fought Jaron Ennis, ranked #7 by the WBO, #9 by the IBF and #12 by the WBC at welterweight.[16] Despite catching Ennis a few times, Lipinets was mostly overmatched in the bout and lost the fight via sixth round KO.[17]

Professional

• WAKO-Pro Full Contact World -64.5 kg Champion

Amateur

• World Association of Kickboxing Organizations
  • 2011 WAKO World Championships in Dublin Full Contact -63.5 kg
  • 2012 WAKO European Championships in Bucharest Full Contact -63.5 kg
  • 2012 WAKO World Cup Bestfighter in Rimini Full Contact -63.5 kg
  • 2013 WAKO World Championships in Antalya Full Contact -63.5 kg
• World Combat Games
  • 2013 World Combat Games Full Contact -63.5 kg