It’s hard to grade Gary Russell Jr.’s career. It’s incomplete, which is another way of saying inactive. The big fights just haven’t been there often enough to get a fair read on how good he is. Or could be. But time creates its own urgency. Russell is 31.
If there was ever a chance for Russell to fulfill potential so evident a decade ago, it’s now. He can talk about who he would like to fight. But the clock on his career moves forward anyway. All he can do is fight, which is what he’ll do against Mongolian Tugstsogt Nyambayar in a mandatory defense of his featherweight title Saturday night on Showtime.
“If it were up to me, I’d be facing Leo Santa Cruz or Gervonta Davis, but this is what I have to face,” Russell said Thursday at the final news conference before the bout in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “I’m here to defend my title in style once again.’’
It’s easy to forget Russell’s style, his fast hands. One fight a year just isn’t enough to create and sustain a fan base. In perhaps an acknowledgment of that and a realization that nobody’s prime lasts forever, Russell (30-1, 18 KOs) is breaking away from his once-a-year schedule.
His date with Nyambayar (11-0, 9 KOs) is his second bout in nine months. He scored a fifth-round stoppage of Kiko Martinez on May 18 in Brooklyn. That’s not exactly busy. But it is another opportunity for Russell to make his case. He argues that he should be included among the best.
“You should expect to see what you always see with me,” Russell said. “Boxing at its best. A great deal of ring generalship. Good boxing IQ. Hand speed. Punching power. The total package as a fighter.
“As a matter of fact, I’m trying to figure out why I’m not on the pound-for-pound list, given all of that. That’s an issue.”
Inactivity is an issue, too. A pound-for-pound claim can’t be made without evidence, which is something Russell just hasn’t delivered often enough. Maybe that’s changing.
Nyambayar is interesting, perhaps because he’s unknown. He has also been inactive. He hasn’t fought in 13 months since a unanimous decision over Dominican Claudio Marrero Jan. 26, 2018 in Brooklyn. Nine stoppages in 11 fights suggest he has power. He also has an Olympic silver medal, won at the 2012 London Games.
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