Often berated for his inactivity, the undoubtedly gifted Gary Russell Jr. is on the lookout for major fights and has expressed his interest in a confrontation with Gervonta Davis.
WBC featherweight champion Russell has fought just six times in the past six years and his relative inactivity means he has been left out of the pound-for-pound conversation and doesn’t receive the plaudits his talents deserve.
The quicksilver Russell, 32, says that his lack of action in recent times is more a case of rival fighters shooting him a wide berth and that he is happy to move away from featherweight to seal meaningful fights – with ‘Tank’ Davis now his primary target.
“I’ve been calling out everybody who’s supposed to be somebody. I think the reason you only see me competing once a year is because a lot of these fighters, a lot of these promoters and managers don’t feel as though it’s in their best interest to put their fighter, or these fighters’ best interest to get in the ring with me,” Russell (31-1, 18 KOs) told ‘The Last Stand with Brian Custer’.
“I’m not at all satisfied fighting once a year, I would love to be able to compete and display my skills and my abilities to my fans, to the people who generally love the work and the effort that I put in. I just play the cards that [I am] dealt with.
“I’m willing to fluctuate from 126lbs to 130lbs to 135lbs and, if anybody got anything slick to say out their mouth in any other weight class, I’m willing to meet them halfway, too,” added Russell, who has now turned his attention to WBA 130lbs/135lbs titleholder Davis after trying to bait WBO welterweight king Terence Crawford into an unlikely bout earlier in 2020.
“You’ll fight a [Yuriorkis] Gamboa, but you won’t fight a Mr. Gary Russell Jr. You sound like you are making excuses. We would sell out anywhere, DC, Maryland, Virginia. You pick the arena and everybody and their mother and grandmother will be there to witness me spank that ass. You know it and [promoter] Floyd [Mayweather Jr] knows it!”
Main image: Amanda Westcott/Showtime.