Gary Russell Jr.

Gary Russell Jr. talks about his career, Orlando Salido and Abner Mares

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russell43By Ian Aldous: Gary Russell Jr. (23-0) stands on the verge of a guaranteed world championship fight in 2014. A wealth of amateur wins and medals at U.S championships, world championships and junior Olympics, as well as an unbeaten professional career thus far, have prepared him for this impending opportunity. The 2008 Olympic games were the sole low-point of his life as a boxer to date. Last week Gary took some time to talk with me ahead of an exciting year for himself and his team.

As previously mentioned, Gary was a standout amateur performer, capturing a 2004 junior Olympic games gold medal and in 2005 he won both the U.S championship and Golden Gloves at the tender age of sixteen. A bronze medal at the 2005 world championship followed as well as more national titles. Qualification for the 2008 Olympic games should have been the pinnacle for Gary but unfortunately he failed to make weight and didn’t fight at the tournament.

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Russell Jr. to face Salido-Lomachenko winner

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russell234By Dan Ambrose: The World Boxing Organization has made #2 WBO Gary Russell Jr. (23-0, 13 KO’s) the mandatory challenger to WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido, and given him 180 days to fight him. If Salido hasn’t faced Russell Jr. by that time then they will likely strip him of his title. Salido has permission to take an optional title defense against Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko on January 25th, but the winner of that fight must face Russell Jr. by April 12th.

That’s not much time for the Salido vs. Lomachenko to go between fighting each other and having to face Russell Jr. It’s about 2 1/2 months between the Salido-Lomachenko fight and a title defense against Russell Jr. If the winner of that fight suffers a cut or some other kind of injury, it’s going to make it necessary to push the fight against Russell Jr. into the future, as long as the WBO agrees to it.

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Gary Russell Jr. wants Jhonny Gonzalez next, then Mares

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gonzalez4448By Dan Ambrose: Unbeaten featherweight contender, #2 WBO, #3 WBA, #4 WBC, #8 IBF, Gary Russell Jr. (23-0, 13 KO’s) says he’s ready to step it up and face WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (55-8, 47 KO’s) in his next fight if the 31-year-old Gonzalez will accept his challenge.

Russell Jr., 25, thinks Gonzalez is vulnerable and he’s convinced that he can beat him. Russell Jr. is so convinced that he can beat him, he’s talking about wanting to fight Abner Mares (26-1-1, 14 KO’s) in his first defense of his WBC title.

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Gary Russell Jr. vs. Vyacheslav Gusev on De Leon-Velez card on March 2nd in New York

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russell43By Allan Fox: #3 WBA, #7 WBC, #8 WBO, featherweight contender Gary Russell Jr. (21-0, 13 KO’s) will be facing only his second contender of his four-year pro career when he faces #7 WBO, #15 WBA Vyacheslav Gusev (20-2, 5 KO’s) in a scheduled for 10 rounds on Showtime on the undercard of the clash between WBC featherweight champion and unbeaten challenger Jayson Velez at the Apollo Theater, in New York, New York, USA.

On the same card will be lightweights Richard Abril and Sharif Bogere fighting for the vacant WBA World lightweight title.

Russell Jr., 24, has been brought a long really slowly since turning pro in 2009 despite having had an extensive amateur career. He’s been knocking out most of his opponents early in his fights for the past year, which is a pretty good sign that he’s really to face better opposition.

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Farhood: Gary Russell Jr. Needs to Step Up in Class

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Image: Farhood: Gary Russell Jr. Needs to Step Up in ClassBy Jordan V Marry: This past Friday, November 9th, up-and-coming featherweight star Mr. Gary Russell Jr. (21-0, 13KO’s) added another sensational knockout to his resume.  The talented southpaw flattened an over-matched Roberto Castaneda (20-3-1, 15KO’s) in the 3rd round with one picture perfect right hook.  However, Showtime color commentator Steve Farhood was quick to put this win in perspective by consistently reminding the viewers that Russell Jr.’s level of competition has been much less than world class.

At the opening of the broadcast, Farhood stated “Gary Russell Jr. is WAY too talented to be facing the level of competition that he is,” and went on to say that he is doing himself and his audience “no favors” by continuing his career at such a slow pace.  At only 24, it would seem that this 2008 Olympian still has some time to work his way up to a big money title fight, but let’s look at how Russell Jr. presently compares crème of the crop at 126lbs.

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Russell Jr. destroys Castaneda

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Image: Russell Jr. destroys CastanedaBy Chris Williams: In the Night of the Olympians, undefeated featherweight contender #4 WBA, #7 WBC, #10 WBO, Gary Russell Jr. (20-0, 12 KO’s) destroyed an over-matched 21-year-old Roberto Castaneda (20-3-1, 15 KO’s) in the main event on Friday night at the Fantasy Springs Casino, in Indio, California.

Russell Jr. flattened Castaneda with a powerful right hook in the 3rd round that knocked him clean out. The fight was immediately stopped by referee Pat Russell at 1:25 of the round while Castaneda was looked over to make sure he was alright.

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Adrien Broner or Gary Russell Jr

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Image: Adrien Broner or Gary Russell JrBy Miles Peart: Boxing is always looking for the next big thing, the next superstar who can generate high levels of interested when inside or outside of the ring. Currently boxing has stars such as Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao who garner attention from not just the boxing world but also the sporting world and beyond.

However, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao won’t be around forever. There are many boxers who are being backed by their promoters and TV networks to become the next boxing superstar.

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Russell Jr: I’d beat Gamboa; Broner is limited

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Image: Russell Jr: I'd beat Gamboa; Broner is limitedBy Dan Ambrose: It looks like unbeaten featherweight contender Gary Russell Jr’s win over 2nd tier fighter Christopher Perez (23-2, 14 KO’s) has gone to Russell Jr’s head because he’s calling out Juan Manuel Lopez, and thinks he can beat Yuriorkis Gamboa. Not only that, he sees WBO super featherweight champion Adrien Broner as a flawed fighter.

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Jermain Taylor – Caleb Truax on 4/20; Lara-Hearns, Russell Jr-Nguyen also on card

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Image: Jermain Taylor - Caleb Truax on 4/20; Lara-Hearns, Russell Jr-Nguyen also on cardBy Jim Dower: Jermain Taylor (29-4, 18 KO’s) will be fighting a 10 round bout against 2nd tier fighter Caleb Truax (18-0-1, 10 KO’s) on April 20th at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. This is the 33-year-old Taylor’s second fight of his comeback and he’s looking to impress so that he can keep moving forward to recapture one of the middleweight titles.

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