By 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.
Russell Jr. is a pretty lucky fighter getting the mandatory spot for the WBO belt because he’s kind of taken easy path to a title defense during his 4 years as a pro. Russell Jr’s best two opponents during his career thus far has been Juan Ruiz and Vyacheslav Gusev. Neither of those guys are in the class of Lomachenko’s first fight of his career last Saturday night in Jose Ramirez. It just seems kind of odd that Russell Jr. has been given a high ranking without having to really beat anyone that would give him any kind of challenge. It’s worked for Russell Jr. in getting a title shot, but it might also backfire by him being out of his depth against Lomachenko or Salido. It’s a pretty big step up going from the liked of Ruiz to a title shot against the Salido-Lomachenko winner.
Russell Jr. doesn’t have a lot of power, and he could it very tough to be getting nailed by big punchers like Loamchenko and Salido. But then again, those guys haven’t been facing speedy fighters like Russell Jr., so anything is possible.
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