Gary Russell Jr. vs. Mark Magsayo – LIVE results

By Boxing News - 01/22/2022 - Comments

By Mark Eisner: Unbeaten Mark Magsayo (24-0, 16 KOs) took full advantage of an injured, rusty & old looking WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. (31-2-1, 18 KOs) to win a 12 round majority decision on Saturday night on SHOWTIME at the Borgata Hotel Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The scores were 115-113, 115-112 for the 26-year-old Magsayo, and 114-114 even. Boxing News 24 had it for Magsayo 116-112.

Russell, 33, had let the entire world know ahead of time that he was coming into the fight with an injury, and it was clear from the third round that he had a right shoulder injury.

As a result, Russell fought virtually the final nine rounds using his left hand only. The magic question is why didn’t Russell Jr. postpone the fight?

It was very odd, but for a fighter that intentionally fights once a year and in this case, was out for two years, it’s not surprising that Russell didn’t ask for a postponement.

Boxing News 24 will be giving updates on tonight’s Russell Jr. vs. Magsayo results below.

  • Light welterweight contender Subriel Matias (18-1, 18 KOs) avenged his loss to Petros Ananyan (16-3-2, 7 KOs) in scoring a vicious ninth round knockout in a scheduled 12 round fight. In the ninth round, Matias landed a scorching left hook to the head of Ananyan that dropped him. When Ananyan got back to his feet, it was clear that he was completely out of it. The time of 3:00 of the ninth. The victory for Matias avenges his 10 round unanimous decision loss to Ananyan in 2020.
  • Super featherweight Tugstsogt Nyambayar (12-2-1, 9 KOs) fought to a 10 round majority draw against Sakaria Lucas (25-1-1, 17 KOs). The scores were 96-94 for Nyambayar, 96-94 for Lukas, and 95-95 even. The former 126-lb world title challenger Nyambayar landed 125 of 417 punches for a 30% connect rate. For his part, Lukas, 37, connected on 111 of 479 shots for a 23% connect percentage.
  • Light middleweight prospect Evan Holyfield (9-0, 6 KOs)  kept his perfect record intact with a lopsided six round unanimous decision win over Chris Rollins (5-4-1, 4 KOs). The judges’ scores were 60-54, 60-54, and 59-55.
  • Middleweight LeShawn Rodriguez (13-0, 10  KOs) destroyed Sixto Suazo (9-3-1, 7 KOs) by a first round knockout.
  • Featherweight Katsuma Akitsugi (8-0, 1 KOs) defeated Rasheen Browne (11-1, 7 KOs) by a six round points decision.

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The 33-year-old Russell Jr. (31-1-1, 18 KOs) is not only taking this dangerous fight coming off a two-year layoff but he’s also revealed that he’s coming into the contest with an injury.

It’s unknown why Russell revealed that he’s injured ahead of time, but some believe he wants to be given a pass from boxing fans should he lose or look poor in winning.

By letting fans know that he’s defending against the unbeaten 26-year-old Magsayo (23-0, 16 KOs) with an injury, it gives him a slight handicap in their eyes.

Russell fighting injured

“You’re last fight against [Tugstsogt] Nyambayar; he was a really tough challenger. Guys like that upset champions all the time,” said Max Kellerman on Max On Boxing on Gary Russell Jr’s last title defense in 2020.

Undercard

Subriel Matias vs. Petros Ananyan
Tugstogt Nyambayer 128 vs. Sukaria Lucas
Abimael Ortiz vs. Ryan Allen
Leshawn Rodriguez vs. Sixto Suazo
Max Garland vs. Marik Black
Rasheen Brown vs. Katsuma Akitsugi
Evan Holyfield vs. Chris Rollins

“You beat him [Nyambayar], you beat Joseph Diaz, Kiko Martinez. You fight a lot of good fighters, even if they’re not all name brands to the casual fans, right?

“This guy [Magsayo] is a little bit different than Nyambayar]. He’s got power like Nyambayar, but he’s got some fast-twitch [fibers] too, and he’s undefeated and hungry.

“Gary, you have disclosed and haven’t said what it is, that you’re a little bit injured going into this fight. First of all, let me back up. Why would you say that going into the fight? Usually, fighters say that afterwards. Why would you give that away now?” said Kellerman to Russell Jr.

“I’m a true champion, man,” said Russell Jr. on why he revealed ahead of time that he’s going into his fight with Magsayo with an injury. “I’ve never gone into a fight 100%, to be honest with you.

“I never went into a fight 100%, but I’m a true champion regardless if you’ve got any nicks or whatever the situation is; I haven’t been in the ring for almost two years.

“I’ve been itching to get back in here to display my skillset, my talent, and my abilities to what  I bring to the sport. Why not?” said Russell Jr.

Gary has been avoided by top fighters

“Gary, when you were a prospect, you got criticized a little bit, or your father did for being very careful with the way he was guiding you and the kind of opponents you were getting.

“It wasn’t your fault that we were so much better than even solid guys sometimes; you would blow them out. Then recently, what people  have noticed is you don’t fight very often.

“It’s like once a year if we’re lucky, we’ll get to see you fight. Why have you fought only once a year? You made six title defenses, but it’s been like one a year,” said Kellerman in speaking facts about Russell Jr’s inactivity problem.

“Because it’s difficult to get these guys in the ring to compete against me,” said Russell Jr. “It’s not up to me.

“I’ve been very vocal about my willingness to compete and fluctuate with my weight and move up in weight to compete against these guys. They’re not in a rush to get in the ring to compete with me. That’s it, that’s all,” said Russell Jr.

The scale was off in loss to Lomachenko fight

“In the meantime, you’ve got one loss on your record. It was to Vasily Lomachenko back in 2014,” said Kellerman on Russell Jr’s only career loss. “I remember when his camp said he was taking the fight with you.

“I said, ‘I don’t know if you want Gary Russell right now,’ but I know it was a majority decision for him [Lomachenko], but I thought he dominated the fight.

“I also thought you went to school on that fight, and it made you a better professional fighter. What did you learn against Lomachenko?” said Kellerman.

“I honestly didn’t learn anything in the fight when it came to him,” said Russell Jr. on his belief that he didn’t learn anything from his loss to Lomachenko.

“What I did learn was the scale of making weight during the entire eight weeks of training camp was five pounds off,” said Russell. “When I went down there, I was actually a pound overweight.

“So, I was actually six and a half pounds overweight, and we had to lose the weight before the fight to make the fight.

“If I had the information that I have now, I would not have lost all that weight, and I would not have been fatigued and tired. I would have still had my energies to be able to go out and perform,” said Russell Jr.

“It doesn’t even have to be Maryland. We can take it to Vegas, we can take it to Cali, and we can take it wherever and it’s going to sell out,” said Russell Jr. on a fight between him and Gervonta Davis.

“I think that’s his way of going around it of competing against someone that’s really going to give him a challenge and is really going to step in and give everything that it has,” said Russell Jr. about the excuses Tank Davis is making about not wanting to fight him.

“He’s a guy that’s a good athlete, but he’s aware that I’m a great athlete. How many times have we seen Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis have to come from behind in the scorecards because he’s losing four, five, six, seven, eight rounds to have to come on and score a knockout in order to win the fight?

“We don’t see that with Gary Russell Jr. I’m always the one leading. It’s never that way with me.”

WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. will be fighting tonight against a young future star of the 126-lb division in Mark Magsayo on Showtime at the Borgata Hotel Casino, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.