LAS VEGAS – Michel Rivera responded to his first professional defeat by producing the most noteworthy win of his career Saturday.

The Dominican contender overcame a slow start and outboxed former IBF junior welterweight champion Sergey Lipinets to win their 10-round bout by unanimous decision on the David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade undercard at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena. Judges Eric Cheek (97-93), Glenn Feldman (96-94) and Steve Weisfeld (97-93) all scored their fight for Rivera, who boxed well off his back foot and pot-shotted his way to victory.

Rivera (25-1, 14 KOs) made his debut as a full-fledged junior welterweight and fought for the first time since undefeated lightweight contender Frank Martin (18-0, 12 KOs) beat him by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder last December 17 at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Kazakhstan’s Lipinets (17-3-1, 13 KOs) lost for the second time in his past three fights.

The stalking Lipinets needed a knockout in the final round to win the bout because Rivera had built an obvious lead through nine rounds.

Rivera continued to box well off his back foot throughout the 10th round. He landed a right hand that stopped Lipinets’ momentum with just over a minute remaining in their fight.

A right hand by Rivera knocked Lipinets into the ropes early in the eighth round.

Rivera landed a right hand just before the midway mark of the seventh round, but Lipinets kept coming forward. Referee Allen Huggins warned Lipinets for hitting Rivera behind his head a little more than a minute into the seventh round.

A stiff jab by Rivera knocked Lipinets off balance in the final minute of the sixth round. A right hand by Rivera also made Lipinets stumble a little later in the sixth round.

Lipinets’ right hand made Rivera retreat a little more than 30 seconds into the sixth round.

An active, accurate Rivera had a lot of success in the fifth round, especially in its middle minute. He landed multiple right hands to the side of Lipinets’ head at that time and also connected with a right uppercut.

Rivera landed a left to Lipinets’ body that temporarily stopped him from coming forward with just under 1:10 to go in the fourth round. Like he had done during the first three rounds, Rivera boxed almost exclusively off his back foot during that fourth round.

Lipinets pressed the action throughout the first round, but he couldn’t catch Rivera punches because Rivera worked well off his jab and often moved out of Lipinets’ punching range.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.