"Me and him were having discussions that he'd possibly come down, it would be short and sweet, just to get out of Auckland and get his mind clear," said Paul Berridge.
"I think that's why he likes coming down here."
With Berridge ranked No10 by the WBO and No12 by the WBA, the 12-round fight with Lepikhin (15-0, 8 KOs), represents the opportunity for both men to showcase themselves on a major United States show in the quest to secure a shot at one of the recognised world champions within the next year.
In comparing records, the Russian's most impressive win was a split decision over then-unbeaten Roman Simakov to win the Baltic Boxing Union light-heavyweight title in 2009.
His four victories since then have been against fighters with less than stellar records.
Meanwhile, Berridge has knocked out his last nine opponents since his points decision loss to Australian Blake Caparello in May 2012, with the Aussie now getting the WBO title shot against Sergey Kovalev on August 2.
The 29-year-old Lepikhin will present a challenge because at 192cm tall he has a distinct height advantage over Berridge.
"He feels now that he's just got to continue what he's always done," said Paul Berridge.
"[Lepikhin] will be one of the tallest [opponents]. Rob's sparring partners are now that height.
"I don't think Rob will have a problem with his reach.
"I think everything will be the same as clockwork."
The Berridge camp recently found a promotional video of Lepikhin which they loaded on to "the Butcher's" Facebook fan page.
It shows Lepikhin hard at training, interspersed with scenes from the action war movie 300.
The footage is somewhat ironic because Berridge himself favours a Spartan-style training regime - after his fights he is always back in the gym within the week to maintain a state of readiness for his next battle.
While training, he is now on medication after being slowed by flu this week. However, there was better news when Berridge and partner Renee Archer announced their engagement on July 3.
