Mr. Gary Allen Russell Jr. has unofficaily been billed as “Mr. Once A Year” for the better half of the last decade.

The 32-year-old WBC featherweight champion has fought only one time every year since 2015.

It’s definitely not by design, if you ask the DC fighter.

"I’ve been calling out everybody who’s supposed to be somebody. I think the reason you only see me competing once a year is because a lot of these fighters, a lot of these promoters and managers don’t feel as though it’s in their best interest to put their fighter, or these fighters' best interest to get in the ring with me,” Russell told “The Last Stand with Brian Custer.”

"I’m not at all satisfied fighting once a year, I would love to be able to compete and display my skills and my abilities to my fans, to the people who generally love the work and the effort that I put in. I just play the cards that are dealt with."

Russell was able to get in the ring before the pandemic stalled the sport earlier this year when he bested the previously unbeaten Tugstsogt Nyambayar in February via unanimous decision.

The last time Russell fought multiple times in a year was 2014, when he finished with a 2-1 record, the loss coming to Vasiliy Lomachenko via majority decision.

Russell has campaigned exclusively at featherweight, but he said he’s willing to move up in weight to find the right fights and opponents.

"I’m willing to fluctuate from 126 to 130 to 135, and if anybody got anything slick to say out their mouth in any other weight class I’m willing to meet them halfway too,” said Russell.

Earlier this year, Russell even challenged welterweight champion and pound for pound star Terence Crawford, but a more feasible fight could be a potential clash with the Baltimore-bred Gervonta Davis in a high-stakes howdown.

"You’ll fight a [Yuriorkis] Gamboa, but you won’t fight a Mr. Gary Russel Jr. You sound like you are making excuses,” he said. “We would sell out anywhere, DC, Maryland, Virginia. You pick the arena and everybody and their mother and grandmother will be there to witness me spank that ass. You know it and Floyd [Mayweather Jr.]  knows it!"

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com