Gary Russell Jr willing to walk away from Al Haymon & sign with Top Rank

[Cobra Curry]

GRJ coming across as a bit of a ungrateful little f.ucker

There is no one else in the sport except Haymon that would put up Russell’s reluctance to fight more one once a year against almost exclusively against lower level fighters while still willing To give him good to great paydays and exposure.

Good luck if he can but what GRJ needs to do is fight Santa Cruz or anyone with a pulse at 126 instead of bumping his gums about getting better paydays he won’t get from anyone else

I got the impression that Gary was unhappy with Haymon's reluctance to put him in with Santa Cruz et al.

[Scipio2009]

http://**********.com/100-Free-Agent...-Berchelt-next

Interesting. Looks like GRJ has put some thought into this. He is willing to do what Wilder wasn’t.

That being said I wouldn’t mind the move. Move up and fight Berchelt. If he beats him then he can unify with Ito and then move up for the loma rematch. Would be two of the three biggest fights of his career.

Even if he hung out at 126 for a bit he could unify with Valdez and fight Frampton. Lots of good options at espn for him.

I would say he has good options at pbc but mares and Santa Cruz have been there for years and he hasn’t been able to get them.

Who outside of PBC is currently on a better deal than Gary Russell Jr is right now, especially at 126/130lbs, lol.

Gary Russell Jr likely made $2m+ on the JoJo Diaz fight (Rafael is saying that he made $1.4m plus a piece of the gate); no info yet on what he got to fight Kiko Martinez under Wilder-Breazeale.

Is Top Rank paying $2.5m+ per fight to GRJ? I doubt it.

[deanrw]

GRJ coming across as a bit of a ungrateful little f.ucker

There is no one else in the sport except Haymon that would put up Russell’s reluctance to fight more one once a year against almost exclusively against lower level fighters while still willing To give him good to great paydays and exposure.

Good luck if he can but what GRJ needs to do is fight Santa Cruz or anyone with a pulse at 126 instead of bumping his gums about getting better paydays he won’t get from anyone else

He gets well over 1 million per fight. His only value due to being so inactive is his strap. He has become an afterthought and he should be just looking to be more active.

[Scipio2009]

Reading all this, how come Hearn and DAZN aren't swooping in to snatch up Russell? Russell would sign 10 fights for 5 million in total, same amount they were offering Davis for one fight.

Because Gary Russell Jr likely already got that to defend his belt against JoJo Diaz at MGM National Harbor in Maryland, without bending the knee to anyone.

Freedom has a price, and Eddie Hearn is seeing that first-hand.

[Ca$ual Fan]

He needs to fight lsc

lsc has been avoiding him just like he did against rigo before

[R_Walken]

I got the impression that Gary was unhappy with Haymon's reluctance to put him in with Santa Cruz et al.

How can Russel have a problem with Haymon who lets him fight as infrequently as he wants and gives him a Kings ranson and TV exposure to fight nobodies.

LSC / Russell have had their straps for almost 4 years each yet it’s LSC who has fought the best in the division and it Gary who fights nobodies

But we should believe Gary has wanted to fight the best this whole time

The blame has to be on Gary for the LSC fight or fighting any other decent 126 not happening yet

[Tony Trick-Pony]

So we might see him more than once a year now?

[Ray*]

GRJ coming across as a bit of a ungrateful little f.ucker

There is no one else in the sport except Haymon that would put up Russell’s reluctance to fight more one once a year against almost exclusively against lower level fighters while still willing To give him good to great paydays and exposure.

Good luck if he can but what GRJ needs to do is fight Santa Cruz or anyone with a pulse at 126 instead of bumping his gums about getting better paydays he won’t get from anyone else

How do you know this was GRJ reluctance? Maybe he wants to be more active and he isn#t getting that.

You seems to straight dismiss the fighter and side with the promoter, maybe you know more about the situation and can shed more light.

But looking at fighters at PBC they are generally not that active. So i wouldn't put this all on GRJ.

[Ca$ual Fan]

What's up Casual Fan?

Not much, having some coffee break right now

[R_Walken]

How do you know this was GRJ reluctance? Maybe he wants to be more active and he isn#t getting that.

You seems to straight dismiss the fighter and side with the promoter, maybe you know more about the situation and can shed more light.

But looking at fighters at PBC they are generally not that active. So i wouldn't put this all on GRJ.

I may be wrong but I’ve heard it from various media/ personalities covering the sport through the years that It’s Russel that prefers fighting once a year

Seems sense though that that this is GRJ choice , Some PBC Guys Fight infrequently for stretches of time but for the most part their established Champions/ Names avg 2 fights a year, Why would GRJ be any different? He’s had a strap 4-5 years and in that whole time only fights once a year always in April or May

if he wanted To Fight More He’d Have at least a year or 2 in the last 5 where he fought 2x. Why would every fighter get on avg 2 fights except GRJ if not by choice