The supporting cast for the excellent Jesus Cuellar-Abner Mares/Jermall Charlo-Julian Williams Showtime doubleheader is coming together. Most notably, top prospect Sergey Lipinets will face Leonardo Zappavigna at super lightweight, joining Hugo Centeno Jr., Mario Barrios, Erickson Lubin, and Josesito Lopez on the docket.
Lipinets (10-0, 8 KO), a former kickboxer, knocked out Levan Gvamichava in March before battering Walter Castillo, who had previously survived ten rounds with Amir Imam, into submission in the seventh round. He has a ton of power in his right hand and is never in a dull fight. Zappavigna (35-2, 25 KO) stopped IK Yang in July to extend his winning streak to ten.
Centeno (24-1, 12 KO) saw his prospect bubble burst at the hands of Maciej Sulecki, who knocked him out in ten on the undercard of Juan Carlos Payano vs. Rau’shee Warren 2. He’ll be facing a significantly lighter touch in Jaime Barboza (19-10, 9 KO), who is 2-6 in his last eight.
Barrios (16-0, 8 KO), fighting out of my hometown of San Antonio, Texas, will be taking a firm step back against Argentina’s Claudio Rosendo Tapia (28-17-4, 13 KO), whose only notable accomplishment is facing and losing to a wide variety of unbeaten young fighters.
Lubin (16-0, 11 KO) does not yet have an opponent, while Lopez (33-7, 19 KO), fighting for the first time since March of 2015, is booked for a get-well six-rounder against Todd Manuel (12-11-1, 1 KO).