{"id":71336,"date":"2018-04-25T12:59:08","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T17:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=71336"},"modified":"2018-04-25T12:59:32","modified_gmt":"2018-04-25T17:59:32","slug":"gary-russell-jr-vs-joseph-diaz-jr-press-conference-heats-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=71336","title":{"rendered":"Gary Russell, JR Vs Joseph Diaz, JR Press Conference Heats Up!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>WBC Featherweight World Champion Gary Russell Jr. (28-1, 17 KOs) and unbeaten No. 1 contender Joseph \u201cJoJo\u201d Diaz Jr. (26-0, 14 KOs) hosted a press conference and faced off for the first time Tuesday before their championship showdown Saturday, May 19 live on SHOWTIME from MGM National Harbor in Maryland.<\/p>\n

Tickets for the event, which is promoted by TGB Promotions in association with Golden Boy Promotions, are on sale now and are available by visiting http:\/\/mgmnationalharbor.com\/. <\/p>\n

The Russell vs. Diaz fight is part of a split-site SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast that will feature WBC Light Heavyweight World Champion Adonis Stevenson defending his title against two-division world champion Badou Jack in a main event from Toronto presented by Premier Boxing Champions.<\/p>\n

Russell Jr., a 2008 U.S. Olympian and 126-pound titleholder since 2015, will defend against his mandatory challenger in the 25-year-old Diaz, who represented the U.S. at the 2012 Olympic games and will be competing in his first title bout.<\/p>\n

Here is what the fighters had to say Tuesday from TAP Sports Bar at MGM National Harbor:<\/p>\n

GARY RUSSELL JR.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to be fighting at home. It\u2019s cool to know that the people I see around all the time will be able to get in the car and drive 15 minutes to come watch this massacre. I can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate JoJo for being honest and saying that he feels I\u2019m the best featherweight in the world. That speaks volumes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stay focused in the gym. The inactivity doesn\u2019t mean anything. It\u2019s no issue. I\u2019ve had hand issues in the past but I\u2019m able to preserve my body and stay sharp, stay focused. I\u2019m a fighter that\u2019s always in shape. I never take a day off. You can ask my wife. On anniversaries, we\u2019re in the gym. On birthdays, we\u2019re in the gym.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of what the situation is, you want a sense of financial stability for yourself and your family. I\u2019m at the point of my career where I have maybe six more fights in me. We want to maximize everything. We want to maximize our revenue and it\u2019s been irritating because a lot of the champions don\u2019t want to get in the ring with me. I appreciate JoJo for giving me the opportunity to sharpen my teeth a little bit more. At least he\u2019ll have the opportunity to say he got in the ring with Mr. Gary Russell Jr.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m one of the most dangerous fighters on the planet. Speed, power, ring IQ, we can get ugly if we need to. I don\u2019t plan on going 12 rounds. I\u2019m not going the distance with anybody for the remainder of my career. Mark my words.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have guys that fight and move around a lot, it makes it difficult to get to them the way you want to. When you have a guy that is straightforward and will be in your face, it makes it much easier for me and they\u2019re much more susceptible to get hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of fighters win with pure athleticism because they\u2019re faster, stronger or in better shape. They\u2019re not winning because they have the ability to make the necessary adjustments based on what goes on in the ring. I tell people all the time that boxing is intellect manifested on a physical form. In most cases, the more intelligent fighter wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father says that whenever you see a fight that is an all-out, knockdown war, it\u2019s just two stupid fighters that didn\u2019t have a plan B or the ability to make the adjustments to make the fight easier. If that\u2019s JoJo\u2019s game plan, it\u2019s going to make this fight a lot easier for me. It\u2019s not going 12 rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as a hit list of my next opponents goes, we are first going to take care of JoJo. I would love to get a unification bout with Leo Santa Cruz after that. If we don\u2019t get that, I plan on moving up in weight and challenging whoever has the title in that division. You want to know who I really want, though? I want Mikey Garcia.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy last fight will be against (Vasyl) Lomachenko. I want to conclude my career with breaking my foot off of him. That will be the conclusion of it. I\u2019m willing to wait, though. Right now, we\u2019re good.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I would entertain a fight with Gervonta Davis. We\u2019re cool. He\u2019s somebody that I actually watched grow up and develop as a fighter, but you have to stay in your lane. When I move up in weight, he\u2019s got to get out of the way or he\u2019s going to get ran over too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to come home to fight until I had a world title. That\u2019s the reason I didn\u2019t fight at home for so long. Now we have the title, and I wanted to fight at least one more time here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to maximize our revenue because I don\u2019t plan on fighting for too much longer. I had my first fight at seven years old. I\u2019m 29 now. That\u2019s a long time competing and a lot of wear and tear on your body. I\u2019m a guy that doesn\u2019t cut corners, so it takes away from the time I could be spending with my family and friends. I\u2019m ready to spend time with my family and children and live out the fruits of our labor. But in the meantime, everybody else is in my way. They\u2019re trying to take food off my baby\u2019s plate.\u201d<\/p>\n

JOSEPH DIAZ JR.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the fact that I\u2019ve been more active will give me any advantage. I\u2019m just doing what I\u2019m supposed to be doing and getting the experience I need inside the ring before facing an elite fighter like Gary Russell Jr. My preparation has been good. I\u2019ve fought tremendous opponents and I have all the experience to come out victorious May 19.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t affect me at all fighting in his hometown. I\u2019m happy to fight in his backyard. He\u2019s the champion and that\u2019s what champions get to do. I know what he\u2019s capable of doing. He says I don\u2019t have the boxing IQ or the power and speed that he has, but he\u2019s going to be in for a rude awakening come fight night. He\u2019s going to see that I have all the tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true to be fighting on this stage. Ever since I roomed with Errol Spence at the Olympics, we always promised each other that once we became pro we were going to fight all the elite athletes and the best champions. Gary Russell Jr. is the best at 126 pounds. I\u2019m not scared to fight him and that\u2019s what Errol Spence did, too. He beat Kell Brook in his hometown.<\/p>\n

\u201cGary Russell Jr. is by far the best featherweight in the world. Leo Santa Cruz, Abner Mares, Lee Selby, none of these guys want to fight Russell. They\u2019re afraid of the speed and the counter shots. But I know what I\u2019m capable of doing and I\u2019ll showcase it May 19.<\/p>\n

\u201cA win would mean everything for me. It would be a dream come true realizing all of the hard work I\u2019ve put in since I was 13 years old. It would mean that I\u2019m the champion and I\u2019d be the shot caller.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think his speed is an obstacle; he\u2019s very fast. But that\u2019s the thing about me, I\u2019m good at adapting to any style that I fight. Come fight night I know that his speed is going to be fast, but it\u2019s nothing that I won\u2019t be able to take, or nothing that will shock me. I\u2019m going to be able to adapt to that speed and make sure I\u2019m able to land my shots when he\u2019s opening up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very confident; 100 percent confident I\u2019ll beat him. I know that this is an opportunity that is presented to me and I\u2019ll be victorious. I\u2019ve always prayed to God that I could fight on SHOWTIME and for a WBC title. And now that I am it feels like it\u2019s all settling in and it\u2019s all coming true. I\u2019m working hard every single day, and once I get my hand raised in victory I\u2019m going to go from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he gets a little bit over confident like he did against [Oscar] Escandon, he\u2019s going to be in for a rude awakening. He\u2019s going to be shocked with not only my punching power, but also with my combinations and with my speed. I\u2019m not like a Jhonny Gonzalez where I\u2019m just throwing one shot, or slow combinations. I\u2019m pretty fast with my punches and you won\u2019t see my punches coming because I throw them very elusive and I punch from different angles. He\u2019s going to be very shocked if he fights the way he fought Oscar Escandon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to go the distance. Gary Russell is going to go out there and not back down and give the fight fans a good show, but I\u2019m going to go out there and give a good show and not back down. So I think we\u2019re both not going to back down and we\u2019re going to brawl it out, and let the best man win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WBC Featherweight World Champion Gary Russell Jr. (28-1, 17 KOs) and unbeaten No. 1 contender Joseph \u201cJoJo\u201d Diaz Jr. (26-0, 14 KOs) hosted a press conference and faced off for the first time Tuesday before their championship showdown Saturday, May 19 live on SHOWTIME from MGM National Harbor in Maryland. Tickets for the event, which […]<\/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":[943,17946,17945],"class_list":["post-71336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-gary-russell","tag-jr-press-conference-heats-up","tag-jr-vs-joseph-diaz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71336","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=71336"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71336\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}