By Jim Dower: WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. (27-1, 16 KOs) weighed in at 125 1/2 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in for his title defense against fringe contender Oscar Escandon (25-2, 17 KOs) this Saturday night at the MGM National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Escandon weighed in 125 ¾ pounds. Showtime Championship Boxing will be televising the card.
Featherweight world champion Gary Russell Jr. hosted a media workout Thursday along with his brothers and rising prospects Gary Antuanne Russell and Gary Antonio Russell before all three brothers enter the ring on Saturday, May 20 live from MGM National Harbor in Maryland.
(Photo credit: Ed Diller/SHOWTIME)
Coverage on SHOWTIME is headlined by Russell Jr. defending his featherweight world title against top challenger Oscar Escandon. The telecast begins at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT features super middleweight contenders Andre Dirrell and Jose Uzcategui battling for the IBF Super Middleweight World Championship plus two-division world champion Rances Barthelemy taking on Kiryl Relikh in a 140-pound world title eliminator. In the telecast opener, from Copper Box Arena in London, Gervonta Davis puts his IBF Jr. Lightweight Title on the line against Liam Walsh.
By Jim Dower: Marcos Briedis (22-0, 18 KOs) is back in his native Latvia following his impressive 12 round unanimous decision win over former WBO champion Marco Huck (40-4-1, 27 KOs) in winning the WBC cruiserweight title last Saturday night on April 1 in Dortmund, Germany. Briedis beat Huck to win the vacant WBC cruiserweight title. Briedis said he knew he was going to win the fight over the 32-year-old Huck, and the judges agreed with him. They scored it 118-109, 116-111 and 117-110.
By Jeff Aranow: WBC World featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. (27-1, 16 KOs) will be back inside the ring next month in defending his WBC title against 32-year-old Oscar Escandon (25-2, 17 KOs) at the U.S Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. This will be Russell Jr’s second defense of his title that he won two years ago with a 4th round knockout victory over former champion Jhonny Gonzalez in March 2015.
Russell Jr. has since defended his title once in beating fringe contender Patrick Hyland by a 2nd round knockout last year in April. That was the only fight for 28-year-old Russell Jr. in 2016.
By Scott Gilfoid: After milking his IBF title for the last two fights against lesser opposition, IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby (23-1, 8 KOs) has finally decided he wants to test himself against the best fighters in the featherweight division.
The 29-year-old Selby would like to fight the winner of next month’s clash between WBA Super World featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) and Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs), or face WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. (27-1, 16 KOs).
Selby believes if he beats the likes of Santa Cruz and Russell Jr., he’ll become a huge star in the U.S. I hate to break the news to Selby, but those guys aren’t huge stars in the U.S. I mean, Russell Jr. doesn’t have much of a fan base at all, period, from what I can see.
By Jim Dower: As everyone expected, WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. (27-1, 16 KOs) had no problems dispatching the over-matched visiting Patrick Hyland (31-2, 15 KOs) in stopping him in just two rounds on Showtime Boxing from the Fox Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
By Dan Ambrose: WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. (26-1, 15 KOs) weighed in today for his WBC mandated 30-day weight check for his voluntary title defense against #18 WBC Patrick Hyland (31-1, 15 KOs) on April 16 at the Foxwoods Resort, in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
Russell Jr., 27, weighed in at 135 pounds, which is within the WBC’s allowable weight limit. It’s unclear what the World Boxing Council will do because of Russell Jr. being a day late for his weight check. It’s to imagine them doing something drastic like stripping Russell Jr. over this.
Hyland, 32, was on time for his weigh-in, as he weighed in on Friday at 137.7lbs.
MASHANTUCKET, CT (March 15, 2016) – Gary Russell Jr. will return to the ring to defend his WBC Featherweight World Title against Irish contender Patrick Hyland on Saturday, April 16, live on SHOWTIME® (11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT) from Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT.
By Listen: The Premier Boxing Championship series, the brain child of super promoter Al Haymon debut in 2015 with mixed results from the boxing community. Fans have accused the PBS of everything from questionable match making to gift wrapped championship opportunities. The PBC did however provide plenty unheralded bouts, such as James Degale V Andre Dirrell and Danny Garcia V Lamont Peterson that had some boxing fans on the edge of their seats.
The sophomore year of PBS, should begin and or be highlighted by a potential FOY candidate matching WBA Super Featherweight Champion Leo Santa Cruz (31-0-1 17KO’s) against WBC World Featherweight Champion Gary Russell Jr. (26-1 15KO’s).
By Gerardo Granados: The answer is so blatantly obvious that the question doesn’t really need asking. Next November 14 the WBC featherweight titlist Gary Russel W26(15)-L1-D0 will fight against Oscar Escandon W24(16)-L4-D0. But what could be special about this bout, is it the match up of the year so far or is it that this one can definitely be the fight of the year? In reality this is only the first title defense for Russel and will be the first shot for a major title for Escandon.
If Prize fighters take all the risks when they climb into the ring then something should be done to at least protect them when they are out of it. This match up defies the logic process of a genuine competition among equals and that might be what makes the fight so special.