Another welterweight fight has been added to the upcoming Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman card.
According to ESPN, Sergey Lipinets and John Molina Jr. are set to fight on the pay-per-view portion of the event, taking place on July 20. The card would be headlined by Pacquiao vs. Thurman for the WBA welterweight title.
Lipinets was once a world champion at junior welterweight, holding the IBF title from 2017 to 2018. After Lipinets first won the belt by defeating Akihiro Kondo, he would go on to lose the title to Mikey Garcia by unanimous decision in his first title defense. Since then, Lipinets has decided to move up in weight after being upset over not getting an invitation to the World Boxing Super Series junior welterweight tournament.
Since making the jump to 147 pounds, Lipinets has won his last two fights, defeating Erick Bone last August and then stopping Lamont Peterson on March 24, sending Peterson into retirement. Lipinets is currently ranked No. 3 by the WBC at welterweight and No. 7 by the IBF.
Molina once challenged for the WBC lightweight title in 2012 when he faced Antonio DeMarco. After losing that fight, Molina would go on to work his way up the rankings at junior welterweight and even faced Terence Crawford for the unified WBC and WBO 140-pound titles in 2016. Molina, who has a 6-6 record in his last 12 fights, last fought in February, losing a 10-round decision to Omar Figueroa Jr.
