Gary Russell Jr.: record, next fight and profile →
Gary Russell Jr. is set for his annual title defense. The longest active-reigning male titlist in the sport today is set to next face Rey Vargas (34-0, 22KOs), with the two sides avoiding a purse bid hearing for their ordered WBC featherweight title fight. News of the matchup being finalized was revealed by the WBC, though the fight currently remains without a date or location.
Josh Warrington has shot back at the recent statements from WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. As BoxingScene.com previously reported, Russell was insulted by an offer of $1 million, from promoter Eddie Hearn, for a fight with Warrington.
Gary Russell Jr. is very confident that a pay-per-view fight between him and Gervonta Davis would do big business. Russell is so sure, he thinks that if he and Davis squared off on the same night welterweight rivals Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. finally fought that there would be more interest in Russell-Davis. That scenario would never occur, of course, because Spence, Russell and Davis all are affiliated with Al Haymon, who wouldn’t compete against himself for pay-per-view buys.
Gary Russell Jr. deemed Eddie Hearn’s offer for a featherweight title unification fight against Josh Warrington unacceptable. Russell revealed during the newest episode of “The PBC Podcast” that Warrington’s promoter made him a $1 million offer for that bout through social media. Russell turned it down because he believes that fight is worth more money, particularly if Russell would’ve had to travel to the unbeaten Brit’s home country to fight him.
Josh Warrington has admitted that giving up the IBF featherweight title to pursue other world champions is a risk as there are no guarantees that those fights will actually happen. Warrington has vacated the title that he won from Lee Selby in 2018 after the IBF refused to sanction a unification fight against either Can Xu, the WBA champion, or Gary Russell Jr, the WBC champion, in April.
Josh Warrington has today vacated his IBF world title after the IBF refused to sanction his proposed unification fight in April. Earlier this month, the proposed mega fight with Xu Can was delayed with a new working date of April 24. Matchroom will now look to finalise that fight or make a giant match up with WBC king Gary Russell.
Mexico's Rey Vargas explained that it wasn't easy to leave in the hands of someone else the super bantamweight title of the World Boxing Council that he defended five times. However, the injury he suffered to his foot helped Vargas detach himself a little more easily from the situation, while allowing him to focus on moving up and conquering another division.
Josh Warrington could give up his IBF featherweight title in order to pursue a fight with either Gary Russell Jr or Can Xu in April. Warrington will defend the title against Mauricio Lara on February 13, a date he had originally hoped to box Can, the WBA champion. But the Chinese boxer was reluctant to box without fans present and Eddie Hearn, Warrington’s promoter, fears that the IBF will turn down a request for a unification fight in April and order him to face his mandatory challenger, Kid Galahad.
The next fight in the career of long-reigning featherweight titlist Gary Russell Jr. could come against the division’s latest entrant. Rey Vargas has been named as the mandatory challenger to the World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight title, officially severing ties with the junior featherweight division where he previously held the sanctioning body’s belt since 2017. With the move came Vargas’ request to be inserted as the number-one contender to Russell’s title, with the WBC confirming to BoxingScene.com that such a fight has been ordered along with a free negotiation period.
Gary Russell Jr. wants Gervonta Davis to pick on someone his own size. The WBC featherweight titleholder has not been shy about calling Davis a weight bully over the past year. In the latest instance of his antagonization, Russell took exception to Davis’ last fight, a 130-pound, pay-per-view contest against Leo Santa Cruz,