By Ryan Burton

On Saturday evening at The Palms in Las Vegas, Jhonny Gonzalez defends his WBC featherweight championship versus Gary Russell Jr. SHOWTIME will televise the event, its first since agreeing to a deal to showcase Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions

series.

Gonzalez (57-8, 48KOs) checked in at 125 lbs. for the third defense of the title he regained with a 1st round knockout of Abner Mares in Aug. '13. Russell Jr. weighed 125.75 lbs. for his second attempt at a featherweight title. His previous shot resulted in the lone loss of his career, dropping a 12-round decision to Vasyl Lomachenko last June. 

In the co-feature, Vanes Martirosyan and Jermell Charlo square off in a 10-round contest. There is no title at stake, therefore it is unclear if there is a hard weight limit in place for the agreed-upon junior middleweight clash.

Martirosyan weighed 153 lbs., but Charlo showed up at 154.75 lbs., nearly a full pound above the junior middleweifght limit.

A similar occurrence took place earlier in the month, when Adrien Broner was believed to be overweight for his 12-round bout with John Molina Jr. It was later revealed that the contract came with a +/- 1 lb. tolerance, common in non-title fights. 

While event handlers sort out whether or not Charlo has to lose any more weight, the two fighters appeared ready to go. Trash talk emerged on stage, with Martirosyan lunging forward with his head before their respective camps intervened.