By Guest Contributor
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Gary Russell Jr, the featherweight division’s forgotten man, defends his WBC featherweight title against Californian challenger Joseph Diaz at the MGM National Harbour in Maryland on Saturday night.
Boasting arguably the fastest hands in the sport, Russell is a technically proficient, rapid-firing combination puncher whose solitary career defeat came at the hands of the scintillating Vasyl Lomachenko in 2014 for the vacant WBO featherweight championship.
Washington D.C. native Russell – someone who inexplicably has never been stripped of his WBC championship – is in pugnacious mood ahead of his title defence against undefeated contender Diaz; a fight that was uncharacteristically straightforward to make, especially when taking into consideration the assumed promotional and political hindrances.
Indeed, the champion has been the subject of sustained criticism in certain quarters for prolonged stretches of inactivity and is promising to deliver a destructive performance against a quality prospect in order to put the rest of the division on notice, staking his claim as the best featherweight on the planet in the process.
Meanwhile, ‘JoJo’ Diaz is widely considered to be one of Golden Boy’s most promising young prospects; and the southpaw’s tenacity and skill are complemented by a devastating, typically Mexican body attack which he displayed in his last successful outing against Victor Terrazas to consolidate his position as mandatory challenger for the WBC championship.
Although he is certainly more than a live opponent for Russell, it is reasonable for most people to expect the champion’s superior skill and experience to become increasingly apparent throughout the middle rounds as he breaks Diaz down with slashing offence and generally outclasses him en route to a trademark decision victory.
Nevertheless, Russell’s inactivity could very well prove to be a decisive factor in this contest; something which is compounded further by Diaz’s relative freshness and youth.
Final prediction is for Diaz to capitalise on Russell’s ring-rust and to pull off the upset in surprisingly emphatic fashion with a mid-round stoppage.