By Steve Kim

On March 10th Sergey Lipinets (13-1, 10 KOs) suffered his first career defeat against the highly regarded, Mikey Garcia, who many have listed on their pound-for-pound lists.

While he lost his IBF 140-pound title he gained a large measure of respect in pushing Garcia and going the distance.

It was Lipinets' first defense of the world title, after capturing the vacant belt last November with a twelve round unanimous over Akihiro Kondo in a hard-fought fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

So what's next?

Lipinets' return is targeted for the comings month, and according to the boxer's handlers it may come against former world champion Antonio DeMarco (33-6-1, 24 KOs)

''(Sergey's) coming back in mid-June, presumably it's going to be Antonio Demarco,'' said his manager, Alex Vayfeld, to BoxingScene.com. "Then we're going to get our belts back, that's all."

Lipinets hit Garcia as much as any previous opponent and while he came out with a loss, it's the type of experience that aids a fighter.

"Without a doubt," agreed Vaysfeld. "I believe that right before the (7th round) knockdown the tide was turning in that fight. Sergey got sent on his ass for the first time in his career, he went off the reservation and stopped listening to his corner, so to speak and tried to get Mikey with a big shot which was a bad idea because Mikey's too smart for that."

After that trip to the canvas, Lipinets was still able to give Garcia a tough time.

"But I still believe Sergey was the toughest fight of his whole career and I can also say that whoever thinks Mikey is just a basic fighter, this and that, they will find out when they get in the ring with him. It's not that easy," warned Vaysfeld.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.

