Undefeated Capitol Heights, MD featherweight "Mr." Gary Russell, Jr. will return to action on Thursday, January 30 when he battles Miguel Tamayo of Mexico at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. No word on how many rounds this bout is scheduled for. The bout is on the undercard of the Victor Ortiz-Luis Collazo contest that will be televised by Fox Sports 1. No word on whether the bout will make the telecast.
Russell (23-0, 13 KO's) last fought on August 9 and won a 10-round unanimous decision over Juan Ruiz in Indio, CA. Russell is taking a bit of a risk because he is the mandatory number one contender to WBO champion Orlando Salido, who has a voluntary defense against Vasyl Lomachenko on March 1.
Lem Satterfield of RingTV.com quotes Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer as saying that an offer for Russell to challenge WBC Featherweight champ Jhonny Gonzalez was turned down by the Gonzalez camp.
"Gary Russell is continuing to chase the big fights. I know that some of the media members have attacked him for his quality of opponents and things like that, but I just want to set the record straight, here," said Schaefer.
"Gary was ready, willing and able to fight Jhonny Gonzalez, and he has called out Jhonny Gonzalez. We made a substantial offer to Jhonny Gonzalez's people for that fight, and Jhonny Gonzalez and his team turned it down."
Tamayo (15-7-2, 13 KO's) has lost three of his last four but is coming off a sixth-round TKO over Carlos Flores on October 13 in Mexico.
If Russell's bout does appear on the telecast, he will be the sixth Beltway Boxer to be shown on national television this month.
Gary Russell Jr. has already pulled out of 3 potentially significant fights. This is a disturbing pattern.
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