BoxRec

Featherweight world titlist Gary Russell Jr. will once again come off of a year of inactivity to defend his belt.

Russell will face former junior featherweight world titlist Kiko Martinez on May 18 (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Premier Boxing Champions announced on Friday.

The fight will serve as the co-feature to Deontay Wilder's defense of his heavyweight title against mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale.

"I expect to send a message to everyone in or near my division that I'm a force to be reckoned with," Russell said. "I want to unify against Leo Santa Cruz and I'm going to do what I have to do to get there. I'm never going to take any opponent lightly and right now, it's my job to take care of Kiko Martinez before I worry about anything else.

"On May 18 you should expect to see excitement, punching power, hand speed, fast combinations and a great level of boxing IQ. I'm the best in boxing today and I prove that every time I get in the ring.''

Russell (29-1, 17 KOs), 30, a southpaw from Capitol Heights, Maryland, will be defending his 126-pound belt for the fourth time but he has been very inactive. He won the belt in 2015 by knocking out Jhonny Gonzalez in the fourth round in Russell's only fight that year.

For the next three years Russell, whose only loss was by decision to Vasiliy Lomachenko for a vacant featherweight belt in 2014, also only boxed once in defenses against ordinary opposition: a second-round knockout of Patrick Hyland in 2016, a seventh-round knockout of mandatory challenger Oscar Escandon in 2017 and a unanimous decision against mandatory challenger Joseph Diaz Jr. in 2018.

Now Russell is back to fight on the same May weekend for the third year in a row and it remains to be seen if he will actually push to fight a second time this year against Santa Cruz, the fight Showtime has wanted to put together.

Martinez (39-8-2, 28 KOs), 33, of Spain, won a 122-pound world title in 2013 when he upset Jhonatan Romero by sixth-round knockout and made two defenses before losing the belt to Carl Frampton in their rematch.

Since that loss, Martinez also lost to other top opponents he face - Scott Quigg by second-round knockout in a junior featherweight title fight in 2015, Leo Santa Cruz by fifth-round knockout in a 2016 featherweight title, and Josh Warrington, who went on to win a featherweight title in, by decision in 2017. Since the loss to Warrington, Martinez is 3-0-1 against lesser foes but will be a huge underdog against Russell.

"I've been waiting for this opportunity to win another world title and I'm thankful and excited for May 18," Martinez said. "Gary Russell Jr. is in for a rude awakening. I have a lot of experience and I feel great at featherweight. There will be nothing better than celebrating my 50th fight with a new world title."

For 3 years straight Russell is fighting in May.

Last year fair enough, it was a decent fight with Diaz and on paper was a really good challenger, although he didn’t show much in the ring.

Martinez might be on a decent run but against lower level opponents. Does he deserve a world title shot? He will say he does. It’s his 50th fight.

Why just not fight Santa Cruz?

I highly doubt Russell will even fight again this year. Wonder what so special about May.

Fair enough Russell-Santa Cruz is a headliner it’s it’s own right.

When’s the last time Russell even headlined.

I have the feeling that Loma will be the only top notch opponent from Russell Jr's resume. That boxing lesson from Loma made Russell Jr to fight even more rarely and against poor opposition.

I would have no issue with Gary Russell if he were just another fighter, but him being a "World Champion" of any organization is a joke.

Since Russell has said that he only fights if it makes economic sense, it must be a pretty good payday.

And against a second tier challenger.

Not much time until the championship fight and they just announced it. Less than 1 month to go.

That pretty much signals how easy this defense is expected to be.

SenorPipino wrote: ↑19 Apr 2019, 15:23 Since Russell has said that he only fights if it makes economic sense, it must be a pretty good payday.

And against a second tier challenger.

Not much time until the championship fight and they just announced it. Less than 1 month to go.

That pretty much signals how easy this defense is expected to be.

He was paid around $1.5m for his last defence. Some boxers make that defending their title twice, but he made that in one fight.

What motivation would he have to fight again.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑19 Apr 2019, 15:58 He was paid around $1.5m for his last defence. Some boxers make that defending their title twice, but he made that in one fight.

What motivation would he have to fight again.

How long do you think $1.5 million lasts the average boxer?

Sometimes just 1.5 days.

What a stagnant career Russell has had and it's his own fault! Fighting a guy like Martinez after a long period of inactivity is fuckin pointless! He should be stripped!

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑19 Apr 2019, 15:58 He was paid around $1.5m for his last defence. Some boxers make that defending their title twice, but he made that in one fight.

What motivation would he have to fight again.

Haymons fighters all seem to earn right good money for crap fights! How can that be? I genuinely don't get it!

SenorPipino wrote: ↑19 Apr 2019, 20:14 How long do you think $1.5 million lasts the average boxer?

Sometimes just 1.5 days.

Some earn a quarter of that per defence. Haymon pays his champions well.

Some don’t make $1.5m in 1 year.

Who knows, he’s probably got some restaurants with his brothers that are ticking over well.

Gary Russell Jr opens up, says he may retire if Leo Santa Cruz or Gervonta Davis don’t fight him

Gary Russell Jr has been intensely criticized for his inactivity and opposition, but the featherweight titleholder says he’s plain being avoided — and that he’s getting tired of it.

By Scott Christ

Look, I won’t pretend that we haven’t criticized Gary Russell Jr. Everyone has over the last few years.

In 2015, he fought once, beating veteran Jhonny Gonzalez to win the WBC featherweight title. 13 months later, he returned and stopped Patrick Hyland in two rounds. 13 months after that, he returned and thrashed Oscar Escandon. And then 12 months after that, he beat Joseph Diaz Jr via decision to retain his belt again.

Ol’ Once-a-Year Russell, he’s become. He’s currently due up on May 18, where he’ll face Kiko Martinez.

That’s not the fight anyone wanted. The 33-year-old Martinez (39-8-2, 28 KO) is a fine fighter, a good pro, the current European champion. But Martinez is a known quantity, too. He lost to Rendall Munroe in 2008 and again in 2009, lost to Takalani Ndlovu in 2009, lost to Carl Frampton in 2013 and again in 2014, lost to Scott Quigg in 2015, lost to Leo Santa Cruz in 2016, lost to Josh Warrington in 2017.

Martinez is a two-division European champion, yes, but he’s also 0-3 in world title fights. Quigg stopped him in two. Santa Cruz stopped him in five after putting him down twice in the first round.

Recently, Jordan Gill, a 24-year-old British prospect at 23-0 (7 KO), talked about fighting Kiko Martinez as a proper step up. That’s a fight that made a lot of sense for Jordan Gill. It’s not a fight that makes much sense for Gary Russell Jr at this stage.

Russell (29-1, 17 KO) is 30 years old now. A former amateur standout, the southpaw will absolutely make you think he’s the best featherweight in the world that once a year we see him fight. He’s got tremendously fast hands, he’s a smart boxer, he’s got some power — look, his only pro loss was to Vasiliy Lomachenko. The guy can fight. It’s clear when you watch him that he can fight.

But the inactivity, and the lack of competition since that 2014 loss to Lomachenko — you can’t ignore it.

Russell has heard it all, of course, and decided to speak out through the official PBC channels. In his words, he’s being avoided by fellow titleholder Leo Santa Cruz, most notably.

And he says that he’s gotten very frustrated, and is even talking about leaving the ring if he can’t get the big fights.

“I’m only staying at 126 for Leo Santa Cruz. I have a wife and children. If they keep playing these games, I’m going to pass the torch off to my little brothers. I’m starting to get frustrated. ... I might say, “enough is enough,” throw in the towel and wash my hands of the sport. ... I wanted Santa Cruz. I wanted Mares before he lost to Jhonny Gonzalez and I knocked out Gonzalez for the title. I wanted Frampton, but Frampton didn’t wanna fight me. I wanted Josh Warrington. ... You don’t see nobody calling me out. They don’t wanna fight me, and I’m getting to the point where I’m getting tired of it.”

Russell says he’s willing to go to 130 to fight “Tank” Davis, and that if he has to fight Miguel Berchelt first to make that happen, he’d do that, too. He says he believes Santa Cruz’s team are avoiding him because Santa Cruz is “a flat-footed fighter ... who can’t do nothing with me.”

He says the reason he’s fighting once a year is that he has to defend his title once a year to keep it, but that nobody major wants to fight him.

Here’s the bottom line, at least from me: I hope Gary Russell Jr, when (it’s not “if”) he beats Kiko Martinez on May 18, very publicly and very loudly calls for a fight with Leo Santa Cruz or Gervonta Davis or Josh Warrington or whomever, right there in the ring on Showtime. I hope he raises a major stink about it to the point that it can’t be ignored.

The thing is, I believe he beats all those guys. And I’d love to see those fights. I want to see Gary Russell Jr fight more often, and I want him to get the fights he’s saying he’s been trying to get. He’s a tremendous talent, one of the most truly skilled fighters out there today, and it’s a shame we don’t see him more, whatever the reasons.

Honestly, and I’ve said this in several comments and I’ll say it here, I’ve long thought it was more that he was sort of aloof about his career, it was just a logical conclusion to me. Lots of fighters are avoided, and certainly he has the sort of skill set to be avoided, but it’s been four years since we’ve seen him in with someone we truly wanted to see him in with, and the inactivity mattered as much as the opponents. But what he’s saying here goes entirely against that idea. I’m more than happy to be tremendously wrong if it means we get one of these big fights.

Easy job for Russell jr.Gary stop him in early rounds.

Russell: I Compete Only Once A Year Because Guys Won't Fight Me

Showtime’s moderator wanted to know if this would be the calendar year within which Russell actually fights twice. The WBC featherweight champion smiled, as inactivity is one of the things he is most asked about.

“It’s possible,” Russell said. “It’s very possible. Is this the year that any of the other world champions will be willing to step in the ring and compete against me? You know, everybody say I’m only competing once a year. To the fans that don’t know, I’m only competing once a year because none of these other guys are in a rush to get in the ring with me. You have to understand that we get paid based upon our ability to be able to produce. Those chances are very, very low [for potential opponents].

“They’re not willing to put their family and their livelihood on the line and step in the ring with a Mr. Gary Russell Jr. They know the hand speed. They know the punching ability. They know everything that comes with it. Like I say, [Martinez] prepared himself to be able to last or withstand the punishment that I’m gonna be giving him come Saturday. Point blank, period.”

Russell, 30, hopes to face WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 KOs) in a title unification fight later this year.

Total mismatch.

diddy wrote: ↑17 May 2019, 21:18 Total mismatch.

Yeh. Am sure there was someone decent in the WBC rankings that he could have fought. Someone who hasn’t been around the block and picked up 8 losses.

Russell is a tremendous fighter. He should be in across nothing but the elite.

unfortunetly he seems to have very little drive, hell be a wasted talent to some degree

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑19 Apr 2019, 15:58 He was paid around $1.5m for his last defence. Some boxers make that defending their title twice, but he made that in one fight.

What motivation would he have to fight again.

He's taking advantage of haymons system of overpaying fighters with other people's money. Hard to fault him, but he's largely irrelevant.

I do hope this isn’t the only time we see Russell in a ring this year.

Russell is so full of himself for a part time boxer, if the sport was a department store he'd be the Walmart greeter.