By Jake Donovan

Sergey Lipinets cared far less about John Molina Jr. withdrawing from their planned fight than he did about whether or not another opponent would be secured on such short notice.

The former 140-pound titlist made things as easy as possible, offering his handlers the same blank check that goes into planning for any given fight. With that came the selection of Jayar Inson, whom he would dust in two rounds Saturday evening at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Sergey never wants anything more than just the chance to fight,” Alex Vaysfeld, Lipinets’ manager told BoxingScene.com of his longtime client. “It makes my job easier and my phone calls much shorter when we’re being asked about opponents—any of them will do.”

Molina Jr. (30-8, 24KOs) pulled out of the fight late into fight week, citing a back injury which increased in pain Wednesday evening. Lipinets and his team were informed of the development just Friday morning, along with a short list of potential replacements.

The assignment ultimately went to Inson (18-3, 12KOs), a southpaw from Philippines whose fighting style was in stark contrast to that of Molina Jr. It could have proven problematic for a boxer who spends all of training camp preparing for a specific style and stance.

For Saturday’s eventual victor, it was just another day at the office.

“Fighting a southpaw on short notice wasn’t a concern,” said Lipinets (16-1, 12KOs), a Kazakhstan native who now lives and trains in California. “I’ve faced a lot of them in the amateurs and have seen every style.”

There was also a difference in class, as Inson was stepping way up in competition for the opportunity. He was due to appear on the non-televised portion of the Fox Sports Pay-Per-View headlined by his promoter and ring legend Manny Pacquiao who unseated previously unbeaten welterweight titlist Keith Thurman via unanimous decision.

With the fight assignment came a promotion to the main portion of the telecast, which is where Inson’s glory ended.

Of course, being the better fighter on paper doesn’t always guarantee victory. It still requires execution, and Lipinets was all business from the opening bell.

“Once it was in my head that he was a lefty, it all came back to me,” Lipinets noted. “We’re professionals. This is my job.”

As for when and against whom he gets to ply his trade, everything is on the table. There were talks of his possibly fighting for an interim title next, although a shot at Pacquiao or any other full-fledged welterweight title claimant would be even better.

The one constant is that the moment the team returns home, Lipinets will be right back in the gym. It’s the very approach he took mere days after his draining 10th round knockout of Lamont Peterson in their Fight of the Year slugfest this past March in preparing for this moment, simply because it’s just who he is. 

“There isn’t a fight that we won’t accept,” insists Vaysfeld. “That’s always been our word.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox