Russell Jr destroys Gonzalez; Charlo defeats Martirosyan

YouTube video

By Dan Ambrose: #7 WBC Gary Russell Jr (26-1, 15 KOs) proved to be much too fast and too powerful for WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (57-9, 48 KOs) in beating the aging 33-year-old champion by a 4th round TKO on Saturday night at the Palms Casino Resort, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The official time of the stoppage was 0:37 of the 4th.

read more

Weights: Gonzalez 125, Russell Jr 125.8

gonzalez6(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) By Dan Ambrose: WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8, 48 KOs) successfully weighed in on Friday for his title defense on Saturday night against challenger Gary Russell Jr (25-1, 14 KOs) at the Palms Casino Resort, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

The fight will be televised on Showtime Championship Boxing. Russell Jr weighed in at 125.8. The winner of the Gonzalez-Russell Jr fight will likely face former three division world champion Abner Mares.

read more

Jhonny Gonzalez vs. Gary Russell Jr on March 28th at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada

LAS VEGAS (March 2, 2015) – A world-class doubleheader, featuring featherweight world champion Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8, 48 KOs) defending his 126-pound title against exciting young star Gary Russell Jr. (25-1, 14 KOs) in the main event on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, will take place at The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, on Saturday, March 28, live on SHOWTIME (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).

read more

Cuellar crushes Tamayo; Russell Jr dominates Martin

SHO_CUELLAR VS TAMAYO-5576(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME) By Jim Dower: Interim WBA featherweight champion Jesus Andres Cuellar (26-1, 20 KOs) of Argentina made easy work of an over-matched Ruben Tamayo (23-5-4, 15 KOs) on Saturday night in stopping him in the 5th round at the Little Creek Casino Resort, in Shelton, Washington, USA.

Cuellar, 27, knocked Tamayo down twice with body shots in the 4th round, and then dropped him again with another body shot in the 5th. Referee Mark Nelson halted the fight at 1:48 of the 5th.
Cuellar had previously destroyed former two division world champion Juan Manuel Lopez in his previous fight last September.

read more

Gary Russell Jr vs. Christopher Martin tonight in Shelton, Washington

russell jr(Photo credit: Kyler Locke/Little Creek Casino Resort) By Allan Fox: #6 WBO, #7 WBA Gary Russell Jr (24-1, 14 KOs) will be looking to bounce back from his recent loss to Vasyl Lomachenko when he faces Christopher Martin (28-4-3, 9 KOs) in a scheduled 10 round bout tonight at the Little Creek Casino Resort, in Shelton, Washington, USA. The fight will be televised on Showtime Extreme.

Russell Jr, 26, was beaten by Lomachenko by a 12 round majority decision last June in a fight for the vacant World Boxing Organization featherweight title. Russell Jr was no match for Lomachenko in that fight, and he the defeat has really bugged him.

read more

What is next for Lomachenko and Gary Russell jr?

russell333By Paul Richardson: As predicted two-time Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko (2-1, 1KO) dominated heavily hyped American Gary Russell jr. (24-1, 14KO’s) at the stub-hub centre in Carson, California last Saturday night. Lomachenko becomes only the second fighter in history to win a world title in his third pro fighter after Thailand’s Saensak Muangsurin in 1975.

The official scorecards of 114-114, 116-112, and 116-112 were puzzling to say the least as the skilled amateur veteran outclassed his opponent for almost the whole twelve rounds. Gary Russell’s flashy fast hands seemed to befuddle Lomachenko for perhaps the first half of the first round, but from then on was pretty much all Lomachenko. I think you really would have the be biased in favor of the 26 year old Maryland native to even give him three rounds.

read more

Russell Jr wants rematch with Lomachenko

lomachenko3By Allan Fox: #1 WBO Gary Russell Jr (24-1, 14 KO’s) gave a good effort but came up empty-handed last night in losing to a bigger, stronger and more experienced fighter in Vasyl Lomachenko (2-1, 1 KO’s) in losing a 12 round majority decision for their scrap for the vacant WBO featherweight belt at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Lomachenko, 26, isn’t more experienced as a pro, but with his 397 amateur fights and two Olympic gold medals under his belt, he was too polished a fighter for Russell Jr to deal with, especially with the type of soft opponents that Russell Jr had been matched against in his fights before last night’s bout. Lomachenko had a record of 396-1 as an amateur, and he clearly was the real deal coming into last night’s fight.

read more

Lomachenko needs to fight with more urgency

lomachenko566789By Eric Thomas: Two time Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko (2-1, 1 KO’s) took advantage of his size and power advantage over the 5’4” Gary Russell Jr (24-1, 14 KO’s) last Saturday night to pound out a 12 round majority decision to win the vacant WBO featherweight title. The fight should have been much more one-sided than it was had Lomachenko shown a bit more urgency with his offense.

Lomachenko was fighting at such a slow pace that he generally gave away the first couple of minutes of every round and then could on in the last minute to land some big body shots to steal the rounds. It was single punches for the most part with Lomachenko in winning by the scores of 116-112, 116-112, and 114-114.

read more

Guerrero beats Kamegai; Lomachenko tops Russell Jr; Alexander dominates Soto Karass

guerrero4455By Jim Dower: In a fight of the year candidate, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (32-2-1, 18 KO’s) defeated Yoshihiro Kamegai (24-2-1, 21 KO’s) in a tougher than expected fight on Saturday night at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. The final judges’ scores were 116-112, 117-111, and 117-111.

Guerrero took a great deal of punishment in the fight from the hard hitting Kamegai, and ended up with a nearly swollen shut left eye.

After the fight Guerrero showed little interest when Keith Thurman’s name was mentioned as a potential opponent for him by Showtime’s Jim Gray. Guerrero said “I fell into his style. I wanted to please the fans. He hit me with some big shots and some big body shots. I took them well though.”

read more

Purses: Guerrero $1M, Kamegai $75k; Lomachenko $631,500, Russell $ 421k, Alexander $450K

guerrero6678By Dan Ambrose: In what will sure to surprise a lot of boxing fans, Robert Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KO’s) will be by far the highest paid fighter on Saturday’s Showtime fight card from the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Guerrero, 31, will be getting $1 million for his fight against little known contender Yoshihiro Kamegai (24-1-1, 21 KO’s) for their non-title fight.

According to Steve Kim, Guerrero is getting the $1 million because of his deal to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr last May included a minimum for his return fight.

read more