Gary Russell Jr.: record, next fight and profile →
IBF featherweight champion Billy Dib is aiming at fighting unbeaten American Gary Russell in the United States, following a Friday the 13th that proved anything but unlucky for Australian boxing.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer advised BoxingScene.com that his company is currently working on a fall tripleheader. Provided that he wins next Saturday's HBO televised fight with Vicente Escobedo (26-3, 15KOs), WBO super featherweight champion Adrien Broner (23-0, 19KOs) would defend his title as part of the tripleheader. Rising featherweight Gary Russell Jr. would face an opponent to be named at a later date.
On Saturday, June 30th, featherweight hopeful Gary Russell Jr. improved his record to 20-0 with 12 knockouts with a blazing display that saw him drop Sinaloa, Mexico’s Christopher Perez three times en route to a commanding 3rd round TKO victory at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, CA. Russell was in rare form in the second bout of a Showtime-televised tripleheader, blitzing his overmatched foe with powerful shots from all angles and he seems elated with his most recent display, his first showcase of 2012. “It feels wonderful,” Russell told me early Wednesday. “I’m a performer and an entertainer, and to be able to perform at that level after a long layoff like that, it felt good.”
BoxingScene.com's Chris Robinson goes behind the scenes at Saturday night's ShoBox tripleheader from Fantasy Spings Casino in Indio, California.
Rising star Gary Russell Jr. doubled up Christopher Perez in power shots landed, hitting on 55%.
By Jake Donovan - Cornelius Bundrage defends his alphabet 154 lb. title against Cory Spinks in the Showtime-televised main event Saturday night at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. The bout is a rematch to their Aug. ’10 clash, in which Bundrage violently annexed the belt with a sixth round stoppage. In the televised opener, Erislandy Lara banged out a unanimous decision win over Freddy Hernandez (30-3-1, 20KO). Scores were 95-94, 98-91 and 99-90 in favor of Lara (17-1-1, 11KO), who busted up Hernandez’ face with sharp punching throughout. Lara was docked a point in round eight for a cut-inducing headbutt.
Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California. The weights are in for Saturday's Showtime televised tripleheader. Photos by: Tom Casino/SHOWTIME and Fantasy Spings.
Some fighters will sit around and wait for an opportunity to develop. Others are confident enough in their ability to create opportunities on their own. Gary Russell Jr. falls into the latter category. With that came the difficult decision to withdraw from a featherweight showdown against Luis Franco, instead focusing on the chance to remain active.
According to sources with knowledge of the details, Gary Russell Jr. (19-0, 11 KOs) is not going forward with a planned IBF featherweight eliminator against Luis Franco (11-0, 7 KOs). On May 31, a purse bid took place at the IBF convention in Honolulu, Hawaii and Gary Shaw, who promotes Franco, outbid Golden Boy Promotions to secure the rights to promote the fight. The winning bid was $220,000. Golden Boy wanted to place the fight on their Showtime televised date of June 30th. Shaw reportedly had other plans and was looking to place the fight on an HBO televised date. The exact reason for Russell's withdrawal is not confirmed, but sources indicate the reason is not injury related.
Today a purse bid took place at the IBF convention in Honolulu Hawaii and Gary Shaw Productions has outbid Golden Boy Promotions garnering the right to promote an IBF elimination bout between # 3 Luis Franco (11-0, 7 KOs) vs. #12 Gary Russell Jr. (19-0, 11 KOs). The winner will be the mandatory to fight current belt holder, Australian, Billy "The Kid" Dibb (34-1, 21 KOs) for the IBF featherweight championship of the world. The winning bid was $220,000.