Michel Rivera earned a unanimous decision victory in his super lightweight debut on Saturday, November 25 at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Bouncing back from the first loss of his professional career, Rivera got off to a slow start before establishing an early lead in the 10-round bout. The veteran, Sergey Lipinets, bounced back with a strong performance in the 6th and 7th rounds. However, Rivera was able to use his movement and footwork to regain control of the fight before seemingly dropping the 12th and final round. In the end, all three judges delivered the following scorecards in favor of the super lightweight debutant: 97-93, 96-94 and 97-93.
Having waved goodbye to the lightweight division, Rivera is prepared to enter a loaded super lightweight division that includes contenders like Devin Haney, Jack Catterall, Josh Taylor and Brandun Lee. Not to mention, champions like Teofimo Lopez, Rolando Romero and Subriel Matias loom. Still, Rivera is ready to dive head first into the pool of competition that awaits him at both lightweight and super lightweight.
“I still will fight with 135 too,” Rivera told Tha Boxing Voice earlier this year.
“If I can get the big fights at 140 then I’ll be at 140 but I still want to fight some names at 135.”
