Sergey Lipinets targeting Adrien Broner for first defense

Sergey Lipinets had to dig deeper than ever to win the IBF super lightweight title on Saturday, edging the iron-tough Akihiro Kondo over twelve rounds, but he’s already looking towards the future. Lipinets’ manager, Alex Vaysfeld, says he’s looking to put together Lipinets vs. Adrien Broner in March.

It’s a smart career move; having lost Terence Crawford to the welterweight division, Lipinets (13-0, 10 KO) is currently short on big names to build his brand against, and Broner’s (33-3, 24 KO) consistent failures to impress make him a tantalizing target. There are, however, some logistical issues.

First, Broner weighed in comfortably below the super lightweight limit against Mikey Garcia, but has struggled with it before. Second, Broner is not ranked by the IBF. In fact, only the WBC has him in the top 15 (#8). It’ll be a hard sell, even if Broner is a better fight on paper than Maurice Hooker or Anthony Yigit.

From a visceral perspective, though, it’s easy to see the appeal. These two are going to collide head-on in the middle of the ring and trade heat.