Jhonny Gonzalez and Gary Russell Jr., who face off Saturday night at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, both had shots at career changing fights last year-and-a-half and one was able to capitalize off the shot and the other wasn’t.
Gonzalez (57-8, 48 KOs) shocked the boxing world when he stopped the previously unbeaten Abner Mares in the first round of their bout in August 2013, netting him the WBC featherweight strap.
“I definitely know that more people have been watching me since I knocked out Abner Mares,” Gonzalez said at the final presser Thursday. “Knowing that more people are paying attention keeps me motivated, keeps me going strong.”
Since then Gonzalez has defended his belt twice, defeating Clive Atwell via Round 10 technical draw and Jorge Arce by TKO.
He will not be taking Russell Jr. lightly and wants to keep the Mexican tradition alive, keeping his 126-pound belt.
“I am well aware of the history of the prestigious WBC featherweight title and the many great Mexican fighters before me who held it,” Gonzalez said. “It is an honor and a privilege and actually very exciting for me to be mentioned with those names.”
Russell Jr. (25-1, 14 KOs) had a ton of momentum behind his name heading into his fight for the then-vacant WBO title with former two time Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko in June.
Losing by majority decision to Lomachenko in just his third professional bout, Russell Jr. explained he wasn’t at full strength for the bout.
“In my fight with Lomachenko I was flat. A lot of things went wrong in camp before that fight,” Russell Jr. said. “I allowed my conditioning coach at that time to change up all sorts of little things with me, and they wound up working against me.”
Knowing he was so close to nabbing his first world title and the chance slipped away, he is determined to not let that happen again this weekend.
“I get another chance on Saturday. I’m ready for it,” he said.
Also on the TV portion of the card is super middleweight contenders Vanes Martirosyan and Jermell Charlo.
