Gary Russell Jr. has never been a fan of Chris Colbert. The Brooklyn native, from his point of view, talks entirely too much trash and seldom backs it up in the ring. After watching Colbert come up woefully short at the hands of Hector Luis Garcia in 2022, Russell wanted to see how he bounced back.

Earlier this year, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Colbert (17-2, 6 KOs) ditched the super featherweight division and began competing at 135 pounds. In his lightweight debut, he found himself going toe to toe with Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela.

Although he was kissing the canvas in the opening round, Colbert managed to eke out a close and controversial decision. A few months later, the pair did it again. This time around, there was nothing controversial about the way things ended.

From the moment the opening bell rang, Valenzuela was dominant. With the 24-year-old growing tired of playing with his food, he scored a one-punch knockout victory in the sixth.

Russell didn’t feel bad for the loquacious contender. He cracked a smile to himself and simply believed that Colbert had it coming. All in all, Colbert should consider himself lucky according to Russell. Technically, he split a pair of meetings with Valenzuela. However, their first bout went to the wrong man.

“He definitely lost the first fight if you ask me,” said Russell during an interview with MillCity Boxing. “He got a gift. He definitely got his ass scorched the second fight.”

Once Colbert regained consciousness, he sauntered over to the nearest microphone he could find and demanded a third fight to break the tie. Valenzuela, nevertheless, declined. It’s yet to be seen whether or not they’ll meet up again but despite publicly calling for it, Russell is convinced that Colbert is simply bloviating. After the one-sided beating he endured, the former featherweight titlist doesn’t envision a world where the results would change.

“There’s no reason why he should wanna fight that man again. He got his ass beat.”