Featherweight Boxing Contender: What about “Mr.” Gary Russell, JR?

By Gina L. Caliboso

What does it take to be a contender? More importantly, what does it take to be a contender and eventual titleholder in a current featherweight division with such fearless fighters as Orlando Salido, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Chris John, and Juan Manuel “JuanMa” Lopez? To enter the current mix within the featherweight division, there is no shortage of strong, young, and powerful fighters with undefeated records and knockouts. But I’m happy to report RSR Fans, there is a speedy American now entering the ranks that has comparable hand speed to some other fighter we all know and maybe love. “Mr.” Gary Russell, JR with a record of 18-0, 10 KO’s stands to get to the top of the division. But, like all fighters fresh out of the corner, he should definitely take his time, along with his advisory team, and take a close look how quickly he wants to move among the featherweight ranks.

As commentators Max Kellerman and Roy Jones JR assessed in his unanimous decision victory over Leonila Miranda, 32-4, 30 KO’s, it’s something for a young fighter to think about in just how quickly he plans to move into the boxing spotlight. Kellerman and Jones JR went back and forth as to whether this young kid has what it takes, as he has now, simply outclassed his opponents and has not faced any real competitive opposition. It’s important to note that up to now, Russell, JR., has yet to fight a 10 round fight. In his last five decisions, he has scored 3 unanimous decision victories, 1 KO, and 1 TD.

Against Miranda, Russell, JR., showed a tremendous amount of physical talent. He is strong with a sturdy build and has excellent hand speed, accompanied by a swift and crisp lead jab. The southpaw showed good inside fighting and always moved forward. He’s definitely an offensive fighter. Upon his own admission, he’s still learning. I can see that there’s still some technical fine tuning to be done, especially defensively and in counter punching – these are true finesse type qualities that a boxer must continually improve, especially as he gets older. I’m not trying to rush his development, but a boxer must always evolve to get to that champion, pound for pound type status.

With his win over Miranda on Saturday, Russell JR remains undefeated in 2011. He started the year in January against Feider Viloria, which resulted in a 7th round TD in a schedule 8 round fight. According to fight stats, Viloria went down in the 5th round to an accidental head butt resulting in a cut over his right eye. Russell JR followed up with a fight in April against Adolfo Landeros, 21-21, 10 KO’s where Landeros was knocked down once in the 1st round. Against Landeros, Russell earned the unanimous decision over 6 rounds.

In June, Russell JR scored a 4th round KO in a scheduled 8 round fight against Antonio Meza, Meza went down once in the 3rd round and finally twice in the 4th round. Following Meza, Russell JR fought against Eric Estrada, and earned the unanimous decision over 8 rounds. Finally, as Russell JR’s year may be coming to a close, he earned the unanimous decision victory over Miranda this past weekend.

There were a couple of things that I definitely see in Russell JR from his fight against Miranda. Over 8 rounds, Russell, JR., didn’t appear to take a round off as he continued a similar pace of offense and executed 6 to 8 punch combinations. However, he also fought against someone who didn’t match him by hitting back. It’s completely different for any fighter when you have a great offense but against the opponent who is hitting back, bobbing and weaving, and moving to counter, a fighter such as Russell with have to continue an offense as well as make the judges look at him as bearing the right amount of ring generalship, offense, defense, and counter punching. For example, I hardly see Russell JR executing that amount of punches in combination against JuanMa and certainly not against Gamboa. But as he admitted later, “adjustments” were made after the 4th round.

Following his fight, Kellerman asked Russell JR why he didn’t proceed to put him away after the 4th round. Russell JR answered intelligently, stating that his corner “made adjustments and didn’t want to be reckless.” But the punch stats speak to his landing punches effectively.

According to HBO’s Punchstat, Russell JR landed 210 punches out of 465 with 45% of the punches landing. In power punches, Russell JR landed 143 out of 239 with 60% of his power punches landing. Of the 210 punches he landed, 163 punches were to the head and 48 to the body.

Finally, I’d like to consider if whether Russell JR has that elusive intangible that a fighter or world-class boxer possesses. It’s a rather elusive intangible and might not appear into a boxer’s career until much later. Call it charisma. Call it super star mega charisma. But it’s beyond just technical skill and physical prowess. It’s that quality that makes you want tune in to every fight to see how good he is getting. It’s the same type of quality that had me watching Pacquiao many years ago and NEVER missing his fights. And, I must admit, Gary Russell JR, even with the hype of a certain upcoming fight, does draw me in because I see a hint of it. There is no doubt to his physical ability, but he is, the most impressive fighter I’ve seen in a while. Russell JR has IT. With that in mind, I can only hope that as he improves, he might get a better moniker than “Mr.” – it’s an understatement.