by David P. Greisman

We should want better from Danny Garcia and Gary Russell Jr. because they are better.

Garcia was the best junior welterweight in the world and is now competing at welterweight, where he won a world title in January. Gary Russell Jr. is toward the top of a very talented pool of featherweights.

Garcia will have gone at least a year from the time he won his title, and a year and a half since he entered the division, until he finally meets another top 147-pounder. He’ll likely be taking a tune-up next month. Russell, who’s fought just once since winning his world title 18 months ago, is saying he’s waiting for the right offer before he returns.

Both stories are a shame.

There is more than one standard to which we hold boxers. What we want from Garcia or Russell may not be what we ask of others with lesser ability or in different circumstances. Our expectations can be based on how good a fighter is, on how long they have been absent from the ring and why, on what they have done lately and what they still have left to do.

Garcia was accomplished at 140. His first world title wasn’t as notable, coming against the faded Erik Morales in 2012. But Garcia made up for it. He stopped Amir Khan to unify titles in later that year, and he bested Lucas Matthysse by unanimous decision toward in September 2013.

He still had his critics. Khan was coming off a loss to Lamont Peterson, albeit a debatable one made even more controversial when it was revealed that Peterson had been using synthetic testosterone beforehand. Zab Judah, who Garcia outpointed earlier in 2013, came on strong down the stretch. Mauricio Herrera, who Garcia beat by majority decision in early 2014, gave Garcia a lot of trouble and, to some eyes, deserved to win the fight.

Matthysse, however, was clearly one of the top two junior welterweights in the world when they fought and was coming off an obliteration of Peterson. It was a competitive bout, one in which Garcia deserved the close win. That made Garcia No. 1 at 140. But rather than build on that, he coasted.

The Herrera fight was supposed to be a spotlight bout as a sort of homecoming in Puerto Rico, where Garcia’s family is from. But because Garcia had trouble that night, his team took a step much further down in quality. At a time when people were calling on Garcia to face the one other worthy contender in his division in Peterson, he and Peterson instead met lesser foes on the same August 2014 card. Garcia’s opponent was particularly frustrating: an undersized, underpowered Rod Salka, who expectedly went out in two.

Garcia then met Peterson in April 2015 and took a fortunate majority decision, benefiting from Peterson emphasizing foot movement instead of moving his hands in the early rounds. Peterson came on strong and won the latter part of the fight with emphasis, but giving away points in the outset allowed Garcia to escape with the victory.

The Salka and Peterson fights came a couple and a few pounds over the 140-pound limit. In August 2015, Garcia made the rest of the way up to 147, stopping Paulie Malignaggi.

Then he got handed a title shot for the WBC belt left vacant by Floyd Mayweather’s retirement. The fight came against Robert Guerrero, who the previous year had lost a one-sided decision to Keith Thurman and took a controversial split decision over journeyman Aron Martinez. Guerrero looked better, but he still didn’t have enough for Garcia.

That was the last time Garcia was in the ring.

Finally, nine and a half months after the Guerrero fight, Garcia is expected to headline a Nov. 12 show in Philadelphia. It is Garcia’s first fight in his hometown in six years. It will only be his fourth appearance ever in the City of Brotherly Love. If you include two bouts early in his career in Atlantic City, about an hour away, he’s only fought at or near home for five of his 32 bouts.

The opponent hasn’t been announced. Don’t expect it to be someone of tremendous accomplishment at 147, not with the fight barely a month away, and not with Garcia trying to set up a fight with Keith Thurman in early 2017.

“The bout is viewed as a tune-up,” wrote Mitch Abramson of RingTV.com.

“Would you rather have Danny Garcia have a rust excuse vs. Thurman or have a tune-up fight for short money next month?” tweeted Keith Idec of BoxingScene.com, making a good point.

It’s understandable that Garcia would take a tune-up first. It’s still hard to swallow.

That’s because Garcia should’ve fought sooner and shouldn’t have needed a tune-up. But there’ve been fewer major cards put on by Premier Boxing Champions — run by his adviser and de facto promoter, Al Haymon — in this second half of the year. Many stars have sat out for long periods.

There had been talk months back of Garcia facing Andre Berto. While Berto isn’t a top welterweight, he at least would’ve given us a moderate appraisal of a titleholder who still hasn’t been tested too well at 147. Then there were rumors that Garcia would face John Molina. While Molina is coming off a decision over Ruslan Provodnikov at 140, that win was seen in large part as the result of Provodnikov just not having it that night. Molina was inconsistent at 140, giving Matthysse a tough fight but showing up lame against Humberto Soto and Adrien Broner. He’s never fought at 147.

Other titleholders in other divisions make defenses against lesser foes. We wanted more from Garcia given the expectations set for him after his time at 140, and given how much time has passed since he looked good against another upper-level opponent. It’s been three years since Matthysse. Garcia will have spent 2016 winning a vacant title against a declining opponent and then waiting until the end of the year to face someone second-tier or even further down the list.

Getting to the destination — Keith Thurman in 2017 — doesn’t excuse the journey. The same could be said for light heavyweights Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward. HBO dedicated plenty of money to featuring Kovalev in a mismatch rematch against Jean Pascal earlier this year, and then to two spotlight performances for Ward against Sullivan Barrera and Alexander Brand, all to waste subscriber money and time on regular HBO airwaves to build to a fight that, due to what it will cost, will be on pay-per-view. (Kovalev’s summer bout with Isaac Chilemba, aired on delay from Russia, cost money too but at a lesser price)

But at least we know that Garcia will be back, and we believe that he will be taking on one of the top welterweights next year. We don’t know what Gary Russell Jr. will be doing or when he will do it.

Last week, Russell told RingTV’s Abramson that he was a businessman who wanted to be properly compensated before he returns.

“I’ve got another three years, maybe it depends on how these fights are spread apart,” Russell was quoted as saying. “We’re looking at taking everyone who’s supposed to be someone and scratching them off the list.”

That’s unfortunate to think a fighter entering his prime with plenty left to do is already planning his exit, though at least there are goals he wants to accomplish first. Russell had a painfully slow development, particularly because of those differing standards. His stellar hand speed and power made him look far superior to his opponents. We wanted him to step up at a quicker rate. Finally, in June 2014, he fought for a vacant title against Vasyl Lomachenko, a great featherweight (and now a two-division titleholder). Lomachenko won the decision and the belt.

Nine months later, in March 2015, Russell picked up a world title with a destruction of Jhonny Gonzalez. Critics will say that Gonzalez was slow and his style was ripe for Russell to pick him apart. But Gonzalez had picked up that title by plowing through a very good fighter in Abner Mares. Russell’s skills and gifts made it easier for him to exploit Gonzalez’s limitations.

Russell was supposed to defend the title late last year against Oscar Escandon. That fight was called off when Russell was cut in training. He came back this past April and took on the subpar Patrick Hyland, who couldn’t last past five minutes.

There was talk afterward that Russell could be moving toward a unification bout with Lee Selby. It’s been six months since Russell last fought. There’s been no announcement. It’s been a year and a half since he won the title, and all he has to show for it is Hyland.

PBC spokesman Tim Smith told Abramson that there’s a gulf between what fans want and what fighters actually desire.

“If it were up to fans they would want to see their favorite boxers in the ring once a month. However, boxers fight at different paces and for different levels of compensation based on different factors such as age, health, championship status,” Smith said “Gary fought just once in 2015. So he knows the pace and compensation that he’s comfortable with at this stage of his career. He’s earned that privilege. It is a very physically and mentally demanding sport, so boxers need to be certain that everything is on point before they step in the ring and risk their lives to entertain their fans.”

Yes, with fighters putting their health on the line, they have the right to choose how often or how little they fight, when they fight and against whom. But they also have to understand that they can be in this sport for money and for legacy, or they can also pick one at the expense of the other.

Russell and others are able to pick money rather than legacy because of the fact that they’ve been paid so much for mismatches. An anonymous source told Abramson that Russell got more than $800,000 for the Hyland fight. It’s the promoter’s and/or network’s prerogative to pay that, but they also know that they’re setting the market to be more difficult for them in the future.

When Haymon was just an adviser, HBO routinely was willing to overpay Andre Berto for easier fights, then had difficulty getting him to take tougher bouts for the money the network wanted to offer. Now Haymon and PBC are dealing with making budget decisions regarding fighters who got used to the money they used to get, and still get in some instances, including Mares getting $500,000 for a walkout bout after the main part of a PBC broadcast ended, and Robert Guerrero getting half a million to face (and lose to) the unheralded David Peralta in August.

There’s still time for Russell to face the other top featherweights in that three-year timeline he mention. It’d be a brief flurry, one that could potentially establish him as the best 126-pounder of right now.

Real legacies are built on sustained excellence, in facing and fending off good challenge after good challenge, not in sitting on the sidelines and only taking a major bout on occasion. Smith, when he was a boxing reporter and not a spokesman, would’ve said something along those lines.

In fact, he did:

“The sad thing about [Winky] Wright's inactivity is that he has wasted a great opportunity to build his legacy, not to mention fatten his bank account,” Smith wrote for the New York Daily News in 2009. “He had established himself as a premier boxer with two victories over Shane Mosley (another guy who has remade himself as a welterweight terror in Wright's absence) and a dominating win over Felix Trinidad. Now all of that is down the drain with his inactivity.”

To be fair, Smith’s critique was when Wright was coming off nearly two years away from the ring; that’s not parallel to Russell’s situation. But the similarity of building a legacy instead of holding out for the desired deal nonetheless sticks.

And being the best means being active against the rest of the names in  your division.

“Traditionally, the heavyweight champion is supposed to be the one who could whip any man in the room. He took on all comers. [Lennox] Lewis may be able to whip any man in the room, but he doesn't take on all comers,” Smith wrote in 2003. “Lewis ditched his WBA belt rather than fight John Ruiz. He gave away the IBF title rather than defend it against Chris Byrd. His argument was that no one wanted to see those fights.

“Holyfield fought Ruiz in three mostly unappealing fights and Byrd in one ugly match. Holyfield never turned up his nose at the bouts. He accepted them and let the fans decide whether they wanted to see them or not. Lewis may not even be the greatest HBO heavyweight champ of all time. George Foreman has that title. But Lewis is the embodiment of the modern boxing champion whose moves are dictated by a lucrative, exclusive TV contract,” he wrote.

Russell’s moves are being dictated by his lucrative contracts. Right now, the most dangerous thing he’s done is take on Lomachenko. The biggest win he has is over Gonzalez. That’s it. At a time when a fighter should be establishing his dominance and cementing his legacy, Russell is content to wait. If he’s going to get high six figures for someone like Hyland, it will take a lot more for him to face another opponent with a pulse.

That is a shame, since otherwise Russell has indicated that he wants the big challenges, like facing Lomachenko again.

“I’m willing to chase him wherever he goes to see him,” Russell told me earlier this year. “It means something to me to avenge any loss, not just Lomachenko. I had over 100-plus amateur fights. I had 10 losses. I still remember every one that I lost to. I had an opportunity to compete against guys and beat them and avenge that. It has nothing to do with Lomachenko.”

Legacy matters to him, too, not just the money. Russell has the opportunity to get both by facing nearly all of the best featherweights of today, given their shared stable.

He has the opportunity. He’s yet to seize it.

“Fighting Words” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com