{"id":51344,"date":"2015-03-03T20:54:29","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T02:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=51344"},"modified":"2015-03-03T20:54:29","modified_gmt":"2015-03-04T02:54:29","slug":"jhonny-gonzalez-gary-russell-jr-heats-ups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=51344","title":{"rendered":"Jhonny Gonzalez – Gary Russell, JR HEATS UPS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image002\"<\/a>A world-class doubleheader, featuring featherweight world champion Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8, 48 KOs) defending his 126-pound title against exciting young star Gary Russell Jr. (25-1, 14 KOs) in the main event on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, will take place at The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, on Saturday, March 28, live on SHOWTIME (10 p.m. ET\/7 p.m. PT).<\/p>\n

In the co-feature, undefeated rising star Jermell \u201cIron Man\u201d Charlo (25-0, 11 KOs) faces a tough test when he takes on the experienced former U.S. Olympian Vanes Martirosyan (35-1-1, 21 KOs) in an important super welterweight showdown.<\/p>\n

Tickets for the live event are priced at $200, $100, $75, $50, and $25, plus applicable fees are on sale today, Monday, March 2, at 12 p.m. PT. Tickets may be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or by clicking HERE. Tickets are also available online at www.ticketmaster.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited to be coming back to the United States. Every time I have fought on American soil, it has been career-changing for me,\u201d said Gonzalez. \u201cIn 2012, [Daniel] Ponce De Leon stopped me in Las Vegas and made me reconsider my whole strategy. I came back to the U.S. in 2013 and I stopped an undefeated champion, Abner Mares. Now I\u2019m back and once again I\u2019m facing a tough opponent. Russell is not an easy test, but I\u2019m confident I\u2019m going to surprise everybody once more. Nobody thought I had a chance in 2013 and I stripped Mares of his title. Food for thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m blessed to be back on this stage, fighting once again for a world title,\u201d said Russell Jr. \u201cI came up short at my first opportunity for the title and that has me more motivated than ever to get the job done on March 28. I will finally hold up my very own belt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love fighting on SHOWTIME and I\u2019m excited to put on a show for the fans in Las Vegas,\u201d said Charlo. \u201cI have a tough opponent, people think I might not be ready, but on March 28, they\u2019re going to know that I\u2019m taking over the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great opportunity for me and I\u2019m just thankful to get the chance to showcase my talents,\u201d said Martirosyan. \u201cCharlo is a tough kid, but I\u2019ve been around this sport longer and I\u2019m going to show him some things he\u2019s never seen before. The fans better get ready for an awesome show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis edition of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is guaranteed to be action-packed,\u201d said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment, promoter of the event. \u201cThe main event presents the classic boxer versus puncher matchup, with the slick, talented former Olympian Russell looking for redemption and the title against reigning, three-time world champion brawler Gonzalez. The co-feature between Charlo and Martirosyan is a highly competitive clash of styles. A big fight is in the future for the winner of this bout.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMarch 28 should be a tremendous night of fights to kick off a stacked run of boxing on SHOWTIME and CBS,\u201d said Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President & General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports. \u201cBoth bouts on the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast have world title implications. The main event matches the one-punch knockout power of world champion Jhonny Gonzalez versus the speed of Gary Russell, who is one of the most skilled boxers in any division. And with Jermell Charlo vs. Vanes Martirosyan, we have a matchup of two top 154-pounder contenders, each on the verge of a world title opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBoxing continues to be a major draw for Las Vegas,\u201d said Billy Conn, Vice President of Entertainment and Special Events for The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort. \u201cThe Pearl is one of the most intimate venues where you can catch those world class athletes in action.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the best Mexican fighters of this era, Mexico City\u2019s Gonzalez has held world championships at 118 and 126 pounds, defeating the likes of Hall-of-Famer Mark \u201cToo Sharp\u201d Johnson and former world champions Fernando Montiel, Irene Pacheco, and Hozumi Hasegawa, along the way. The 33-year-old Gonzalez\u2019 last loss came in 2012 to Daniel Ponce De Leon, but he has won his last five fights, including a shocking 2013 first-round knockout over defending beltholder Abner Mares resurrecting his career. He has defended the title twice in Mexico and now he returns to the U.S. in a very tough defense on March 28.<\/p>\n

A supremely talented boxer, Capitol Heights, Maryland\u2019s Russell Jr. is looking to strike world championship gold in his second shot at a belt. The 2008 U.S. Olympian looks to wipe out the memory of his first opportunity, when he fell by 12-round majority decision to Vasyl Lomachenko. He was able to return to his winning ways in December 2014, when he dominated Christopher Martin on his way to a unanimous decision. Now Russell Jr. has his eyes set on Gonzalez\u2019 featherweight crown.<\/p>\n

Younger-by-one-minute than his identical twin Jermall, Charlo is also a highly ranked young fighter looking to get one step closer to a world title shot. A tall fighter for his division, Charlo stepped up in class in 2014 and delivered three wide unanimous decision victories over Gabriel Rosado, Charlie Ota and Mario Lozano. On March 28, he takes on another tough challenge when he meets the experienced Martirosyan.<\/p>\n

Born in Armenia, but fighting out of Glendale, Calif., Martirosyan represented the U.S. at the 2004 Olympics and has put together a stellar pro career since. He won his first 32 fights before fighting current world champion Erislandy Lara to a draw in 2012. He suffered a narrow defeat by split decision in his first world title shot against Demetrius Andrade but has rebounded with nice wins over Mario Lozano and Willie Nelson.<\/p>\n

The event takes place at The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas and will air on SHOWTIME (10 p.m. ET\/7 p.m. PT). In the co-main event, Jermell Charlo takes on Vanes Martirosyan in super welterweight action. The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast will also be available in Spanish via secondary audio programming (SAP).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A world-class doubleheader, featuring featherweight world champion Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8, 48 KOs) defending his 126-pound title against exciting young star Gary Russell Jr. (25-1, 14 KOs) in the main event on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, will take place at The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, on Saturday, March 28, live on SHOWTIME (10 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12293,12294],"class_list":["post-51344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-jhonny-gonzalez-gary-russell","tag-jr-heats-ups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51344"}],"version-history":[{"count":-4,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}