Gary Russell Jr. defends against Oscar Escandon on Feb.18

Image: Gary Russell Jr. defends against Oscar Escandon on Feb.18

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.

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Selby wants Santa Cruz-Frampton winner or Russell Jr.

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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.

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Gary Russell Jr. destroys Patrick Hyland

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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.

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Gary Russell Jr. vs. Patrick Hyland camp notes

NEW YORK (April 7, 2016) – The boxers who will be fighting Saturday, April 16 on a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® world title doubleheader are deep into their respective training camps as they continue preparation for their bouts at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT.

In the main event, live on SHOWTIME® (11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT), the talented and speedy southpaw Gary Russell Jr. (26-1, 15 KOs) makes the first defense of his WBC Featherweight World Title against Irish contender Patrick Hyland (31-1, 15 KOs). In the SHOWTIME co-feature, unbeaten sniper Jose Pedraza (21-0, 12 KOs) risks his IBF 130-pound world title as he defends his title for the second time against a mandatory challenger, Stephen Smith (23-1, 13 KOs).

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Gary Russell Jr. weighs in at 135 for his 30-day weight check

russell333By 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.

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Leo Santa Cruz vs. Gary Russell Jr: C’mon Al Make the Fight

1-SANTA CRUZ VS MARES4445By 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).

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Is Gary Russell Jr. vs. Oscar Escandon a special fight?

russell333By 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.

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Mayweather-Berto sold only 400,000 PPV buys, says Iole

1-IMG_1614By Allan Fox: Yahoo Sports writer Kevin Iole is reporting that last Saturday’s fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Andre Berto sold only 400,000 PPV buys on Showtime PPV from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

There are other reports that the Mayweather-Berto fight brought in 550,000 PPV buys. But Iole’s source is saying that the number is only in the neighborhood of 400K. Unfortunately for the boxing fans, we’ll probably never know the real numbers. In the past there’s been silence and secrecy for some fights where the numbers were rumored to be poor.

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Gary Russell Jr: Does he match-up against the elite?

Gary Russell Jr vs Jhonny Gonzalez(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Sebastian Mora: – First and foremost I would like to congratulate Gary Russell Jr. (26-1, 15 KOs) for proving a lot of people wrong with his 4th round knockout win over WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (57-9, 48 KOs) at the Palms Casino Resort, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, and for coming stronger and better after his first loss as pro.

Last night, Russell Jr. showed that not only can he beat you with speed and decent skills, but he can also sit in there and get you out. The fans knew he had K.O power, but a lot of them felt it was mostly due to the soft opposition that he was fed prior to his bout against last year Vasyl Lomachenko, and last Saturday night we found out that he can also use that combination of speed, power and skill against a proven veteran, that most people felt was going to win via a knockout.

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