By Chris Williams: Featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr has Mikey Garcia on his radar and says he’s willing to come up to 147 to make the fight happen. Russell Jr (31-1, 18 KOs) isn’t happy with Mikey due to him making comments recently after he attempted to get a fight against Leo Santa Cruz at 126.
Gary says Mikey was trying to be a “savior” of Santa Cruz making comments about how he “disrespected” Leo’s dad. Since Mikey wants to insert himself into something that’s not his business, says Russell, then he’s now on his radar for someone that he wants to fight.
Russell posted a video of him with an arm over the shoulders of Santa Cruz’s dad, telling boxing fans that he can touch him any chance he wants, but he can’t get to Leo.
What Russell Jr was trying to do was motivate Santa Cruz into fighting him, but it didn’t work. He still hasn’t gotten a fight against Leo and it looks like he never will at this point.
Russell is confident that he’ll beat Mikey, who he feels isn’t a true welterweight, and lacks the talent to do anything in that weight class.
Russell: Mikey Garcia is too slow
“There’s nobody at 147 that brings the skill set that I bring,” said Russell Jr to Barbershop Conversations. “He’s overrated. If I fight Lomachenko 100 times, I’ll beat him 99 times out of 100.
“Lomachenko isn’t a better fighter than me. He’s overrated. He lost to [Orlando] Salido. I can do what Mikey did [in moving up to 147. Mikey fought Errol and he lost. Errol did what he wanted. Mikey’s too slow. I’m going to beat Mikey’s a**.
“If the fight makes sense, I’ll come up to 147. I told you, I’ll fight Mikey Garcia 147. If he wouldn’t want to fight me at 140, I’ll fight him at 147. I will fight Adrien Broner at 147 if he won’t fight me at 140. Whatever weight division seems more lucrative, that’s where I’m at.
“I had a conversation with Al [Haymon]. I’ll move up in weight. I’m not getting any fights in the weight division that I’m in. I wouldn’t mind moving up to 140.
“I’d fight Adrien Broner if he wanted. Al told me that he reached out to Adrien and gave him the opportunity to take the fight and for whatever reason, he turned it down. So once again from 126 all the way to 140, you’ve got suckers ducking,” said Russell Jr.
It probably won’t help Russell to move up to welterweight because Mikey is only interested in fighting the big names in that weight class. Garcia is currently viewed as the leading option for the 41-year-old Pacquiao’s next fight.
At welterweight, Mikey’s low punch rate, lack of size, and hand speed make him a below-average fighter in the weight class, But he’s living off of what he did at 126, 130, and 135.
Winning world titles in the lower weight classes have put Mikey in the position where he doesn’t need to prove himself by beating a good welterweight to gt a fight against Pacquiao.
Mikey is on Russell Jr’s radar now
“Mikey Garcia, he was never nobody that was on my radar,” said Gary Jr. “I never paid Mikey no mind. It wasn’t until he put his hand in my business. He said something about me putting my arm around Leo Santa Cruz’s father, and it was disrespectful.
“We’re entertainers. I was promoting the fight that’s all. I wasn’t trying to do anything harmful to his father. But since you want to jump like you’re the savior, the Mexican savior or something.
“I’ll move up in weight and I’ll beat your a**. We can fight, Mikey. It’s not a problem. I will fight you. We can fight. I’ll jump up three weight classes to meet you and make history doing it. I will beat your a**.
“If you want to make the fight happen let’s make the fight happen. Tell Al to let me know something because I heard Al offered the fight to him [Mikey Garcia] as well, and he turned it down for whatever reason.
“Since you want to act like you’re the savior what’s up. As a matter of fact, if you really feel some sort of way I’ll meet you at 147. If Mikey wants to fight, let’s make it happen.
“Man, you’re on my radar, Mikey. Are you scared too? You got Leo [Santa Cruz] that’s scared. Where’s your father, Mikey? I’ll put my arm around his shoulders too.
“Will you get in the ring and fight? These dudes are suckers. They’re wearing skirts. They’re picking and choosing,” Russsell Jr said about Mikey.
As you can see, Russell Jr has a lot of animosities built up about Mikey Garcia, but it might not help him. It’s not realistic that to foresee Russell Jr getting a fight against Mikey Garcia because he’s only interested in getting big paydays against the top welterweights now.
Is Mikey cashing out at this point in his career? A lot of fans believe that to be the case.
Gary ready to move up to 147 to face Mikey Garcia
“Mikey got the brakes beat out of him against Errol, and then he’s fighting Jessie Vargas to get his clout back together,” said Russell Jr. “Get the f*** out of here. He ain’t even got a title right now.
“I got a belt at 126. I’ll move up multiple weight classes. If I’m a little guy, then it should be easy for you to knockout, Mikey. It’s definitely possible that we could have fought earlier in our careers, but it didn’t happen for whatever reason.
“But right now, he [Mikey] can get it. He put his hand in some s***. We can fight. Tell your brother to get you in shape. Call Al and make something happen. Leo is scared, Tank is scared.
“I’m not getting fights in my division, so I’ll move up and give these guys an unfair advantage. And since Mikey has got something to say, then what’s up? I’ll fight AB [Adrien Broner].
“He hasn’t had a relevant fight in I don’t know how long. He lost his last three fights, and then he had a draw. I told Al that I’ll fight Mikey because he had something to say.
“He reached out to him and for whatever reason, they declined,” said Russell Jr.
It’s safe to say that Mikey will never fight Russell Jr because he doesn’t bring anything to the table for him. If Mikey gets the Pacquiao fight, he’ll get a big payday, and if he loses, which is likely, he’ll then probably target Keith Thurman or Errol Spence.
By that point, it would be forlorn seeing Mikey talking his way into fights against Thurman, Spence, and Danny Garcia, and losing each time.
Russell Jr says he broke Terence Crawford’s jaw
“I Broke Terence Crawford Jaw & Mikey Garcia & Broner Ducked Me,” said Russell Jr.
Crawford responds to Russell:
“Gary Russell Jr is clout chasing and trying to get attention off my name,” said Crawford on social media. “Wait until I come back, and wait until I get out of this situation, and then you’ll have to see.”
The sparring session that Russell Jr supposed to have happened many years ago, so you can give Crawford a pass if he suffered a broken jaw. However, it’s hard not to view Russell Jr was better than anyone that Crawford has fought during his 12-year pro career.
The only name on Crawford’s resume is Yurirokis Gamboa, but that was a fight that took place at lightweight, a weight class that is two divisions above Yuriorkis’ ideal weight of 126. Gamboa was at his best at featherweight, and he’s been on the slide ever since leaving the division in 2012.
Is Crawford planning on leaving Top Rank?
The comment from Crawford where he says “wait until I get out of this situation, and then you’ll have to see,” has some boxing fans wondering if he’s unhappy with Top Rank and thinking about leaving them. It was Crawford that chose to re-up with Top Rank after his contract expired.
Crawford could have left the company and signed with Premier Boxing Champion, which would have enabled him to fight these welterweights:
- Errol Spence Jr
- Manny Pacquiao
- Shawn Porter
- Danny Garcia
- Yordenis Ugas
The 32-year-old Crawford is running out of time to get the big fights in before he’s over-the-hill, and no longer the same fighter he is today.
Of course, Crawford could also be talking about the pandemic, but why would he say “wait until I get out of this situation” rather than we? We’re all in the same situation with the pandemic. It’s not just Crawford.