In late August, news broke of Mary Spencer defending her WBA junior middleweight title against Mikaela Mayer on October 30.

Today, we learned that Arthur Biyarslanov (19-0, 16 KOs) will defend his NABF junior welterweight title against former IBF 140-pound champion Sergey Lipinets (18-4-1, 13 KOs) as part of next month's undercard at Montreal Casino, Montreal.

Scheduled for ten rounds, this represents a crossroads contest for both and will allow the winner to break into the division's upper echelons.

"We feel Biyarslanov has the potential to achieve at 140 what Artur Beterbiev did at 175," Camille Estephan, the Eye of The Tiger president told The Ring.

"Now he has a chance to prove it. We have a guy that is very good, an ex-champion, who hits hard and is a southpaw. This is going to be a hellavu fight, a chance for him to get to the world stage and say, 'I'm ready for all the world champions.'

The evening's co-feature will see rising prospect Wilkens Mathieu (14-0, 10 KOs) face by far the best opponent of his burgeoning career to date in the form of Shakeel Phinn (27-3-2, 17 KOs).

Rounding out the card, Turkish light heavyweight contender Mehmet Unal (13-0, 11 KOs) takes on Ralfs Vilcans (18-2, 7 KOs) over 10 rounds. Christopher Guerrero (15-0, 9 KOs) faces William Andres Herrera (17-4, 7 KOs) in a 10-rounder at welterweight.

An unbeaten battle awaits at junior lightweight when Thomas Chabot (11-0, 8 KOs) meets Logan Clouthier (6-0, 4 KOs) over eight rounds, while Erik Israyelyan (2-0, 2 KOs) faces Dylan Schroeder (6-0, 4 KOs).

Chechnya-born Biyarslanov moved to Canada at a young age. He was a successful amateur, representing his adopted homeland at the 2016 Olympics where he lost at the quarter-final stage.

The 30-year-old southpaw turned professional in the fall of 2018, though his initial progress was something of a slow burn.

He signed with Eye of The Tiger early last year and has made three NABF title defences since stopping Elias Mauricio Haedo for the vacant title in June 2024.

His most notable performance of late saw him become the first person to stop Mohamed Mimoune (24-7, 5 KOs) with a second-round finish in February, after which he needed three rounds to dismiss Antonio Collado in early June.

Lipinets was a kickboxer before switching to boxing and turned pro in 2014.

He moved quickly and scored wins over then unbeaten Haskell Rhodes (UD 10), Levan Ghvamichava (KO 5) and Leonardo Zappavigna (KO 8).

After Terence Crawford vacated his junior welterweight throne, Lipinets was well positioned to face and beat Akihiro Kondo (UD 12) for the IBF title in November 2017.

However, his title reign was short-lived as Mikey Garcia outpointed him over 12 rounds four months later. A move to welterweight saw him breathe new life into his career, beating former titleholder Lamont Peterson (TKO 10), a 12-round draw with Custio Clayton before being well beaten by future beltholder Jaron Ennis, prompting a move back down in weight.

Since then, his form has been patchy. He scored victories over former 135-pound titlist Omar Figueroa Jr. (RTD8) and outpointed Robbie Davies Jr. (UD10) but has also lost to Michel Rivera (UD10) and rising star Adam Azim stopped him in nine on February 1.