Gary Russell Jr.: record, next fight and profile →
WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell out-speeded and out-foxed the determined mandatory challenger King Tug Nyambayar, who did better in the second half but still couldn't make up for the early deficit.
ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania – A showdown with Gervonta Davis is the lightweight fight on which Gary Russell Jr. is most focused at the moment. Russell is very confident he’d become the first fighter to defeat Davis in what would be a high-profile boxing event in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area. The long-reigning WBC featherweight champion has hardly forgotten, though, about the lightweight champion who dealt Russell what remains his lone professional loss 5½ years ago.
WBC Featherweight World Champion Gary Russell Jr. successfully defended his title by winning a unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Tugstsogt Nyambayar live on SHOWTIME Saturday night in a Premier Boxing Champions event from PPL Center in Allentown, Pa. Russell won by the scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112.
Russell, Nyambayar Fight Photos Gallery - PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania - WBC featherweight world champion Gary Russell Jr. (31-1, 18 KOs) won a twelve round unanimous decision over previously undefeated mandatory challenger Tugstsogt "King Tug" Nyambayar (11-1, 9 KOs). (photos by Amanda Westcott)
By Keith Idec - ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania – Gary Russell Jr. was too elusive, too experienced, too fast, too skillful and too smart for Tugstsogt Nyambayar. The WBC featherweight champion out-classed his mandatory challenger Saturday night and convincingly beat him in their 12-round title fight. Russell retained his 126-pound championship...
Russell, Nyambayar Scorecard BoxingScene Live - WBC Featherweight World Champion Gary Russell Jr. and unbeaten mandatory challenger Tugstsogt "King Tug" Nyambayar went face-to-face at the official weigh-in Friday before they headline action live on SHOWTIME on Saturday, February 8 in a Premier Boxing Champions event from PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. (photos by Amanda Westcott)
ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania – Gary Russell Jr. has stated during this promotion that Tugstsogt Nyambayar doesn’t have any pressure on him. Russell’s unbeaten mandatory challenger begs to differ. Nyambayar is motivated to reward the supportive people in his home country of Mongolia by upsetting Russell in their 12-round WBC featherweight title fight Saturday night.
If he wasn’t good, would anyone bother with the jokes? Gary Russell’s limited fight schedule since winning a featherweight belt in 2015 has earned a quip or two. Over the last five calendar years, Russell has appeared just once in all of them. In the last three years, the appearance came in May. Russell 2020 arrives ahead of schedule. The 2008 US Olympian is talking about picking up his activity with an eye on bigger fights.
Gary Russell Jr. hopes Leo Santa Cruz changes his mind. Russell wants to become the first opponent to knock out the four-division champion, something Russell suspects will happen if Santa Cruz squares off against Gervonta Davis instead. A Davis-Santa Cruz clash seemingly will happen sometime in the spring.
Gary Russell Jr.’s lengthy layoffs usually are a prominent topic of discussion whenever the talented featherweight champion defends his title. On Saturday night, however, Russell will encounter an opponent who’s been out of the ring for an even longer amount of time than him. Tugstsogt Nyambayar, the mandatory challenger for Russell’s WBC 126-pound championship, hasn’t fought in over a year, not since out-pointing Claudio Marrero in a 12-round elimination match last January 26 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.