Russell’s KO Creates New 20-something Dynasty at 126

By Lyle Fitzsimmons

Will the real Gary Russell Jr. please stand up?

Is the 26-year-old still the athletically gifted but technically outmatched wannabe he portrayed nine months ago in a not-nearly-so-close-as-it-was-scored majority decision loss to Vasyl Lomachenko?

Or is he now the multi-faceted assassin who took less than 10 in-ring minutes to detach veteran Jhonny Gonzalez from a tenuous connection to world-stage relevance on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The answer, as in many things, probably resides somewhere in the middle.

But regardless of where one thinks the Washington, D.C. native rightfully belongs in the suddenly reconfigured mix at 126 pounds, there seems little reason to doubt that the featherweight ranks are entering a top-end golden age they’ve not seen in recent multi-belt memory.

Russell’s four-round ascension made him the fourth 20-something to possess a recognized championship trinket in the weight class – 25-year-old Lusanda Komanisi is the IBO’s lesser-known title-holder – and the prospect of fellow youngsters Lomachenko (27, WBO), Nicholas Walters (29, WBA) and Evgeny Gradovich (28, IBF) dueling for premier jewelry is a tantalizing dream if not a reachable reality.

And it doesn’t hurt that the division’s most-decorated non-champion – Abner Mares – is only 29.

Russell, the former U.S. amateur kingpin, controlled the first two rounds against Gonzalez with his fast fists, but it was a thudding straight left followed by a sweeping right hook that sent his foe down in the third, and the wobbly Mexican never recovered – falling once more in the fourth before referee Tony Weeks stepped in to end matters just 37 seconds into the session.

“That’s not the way almost anyone thought this fight would end,” said Showtime analyst Al Bernstein, referring to a general consensus that leaned on Gonzalez’s 48 stoppages in 57 pro victories, compared to Russell’s comparatively thin resume to support his obvious advantages in hand and foot speed.

Those doubters were quick to point out that Russell had never won a scheduled 12-round bout and had scored just one victory – out of 25 – over a fighter who’d won at least two straight bouts. Nevertheless, the determination he claimed to have rediscovered following the Lomachenko loss proved legitimate.

He landed 59 punches compared to only 14 for Gonzalez, including a 34-7 edge in power shots.

“That was the wrath and the frustration of Gary Russell after the loss to Lomachenko,” said Showtime’s Paulie Malignaggi, “and he just took it out on Jhonny Gonzalez.”

Ironically, a 32-year-old Mexican with 10 losses might have been the weekend’s biggest winner.

Golden Boy Promotions property Robinson Castellanos has one awfully convenient thing on his side when it comes to making a match with Russell – his standing as the new champ’s mandatory foe.

He earned that tag on Jan. 26 in San Antonio, where he dominated another 10-loss relic – 34-year-old Rocky Juarez – and started his third reign as the WBC’s undisputedly meaningless “Silver” champion after previously holding the trinket over six fights in 2011-12 and three more fights in 2013.

Another potential gate-crasher could come from the 122-pound ranks.

Though he and fellow junior feather kingpin Guillermo Rigondeaux have spent months making mutual callouts, it seems more likely that Leo Santa Cruz will ultimately find himself in the ring with Russell.

Santa Cruz became the latest high-profile property to leave the Golden Boy Promotions roster last month thanks to a relationship with omnipotent manager/adviser Al Haymon, which all but KO’d the idea that he’ll ever meet the unbeaten Cuban in a unification summit.

But while it likely canceled out one match, the transaction did bring a rise in weight into play for Santa Cruz, with the idea that he’d face fellow Haymon clients Russell or Mares later this year in a marquee television slot—on either Showtime or one of Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions programs.

Mares had said many times that he coveted a chance to avenge 2013’s Upset of the Year, which came when he’d been starched by Gonzalez in a single round at the StubHub Center in suburban Los Angeles.

But given Russell’s dominance, it seems like a title shot against him will work just as well.

The practical relevance of a Mares-Gonzalez rematch was all but erased Saturday night, and because he and Mares share space under the Al Haymon management umbrella, it’s not hard to imagine the two of them getting together with a belt on the line.

And last but not least, there’s always the man who beat the man.

While getting the Top Rank-led Ukrainian and the Haymon-steered American back in the ring again might a tectonic-level promotional movement, there’s no doubt it’s what the first-time loser wants.

“I want to fight for another world title, win it, and then immediately challenge Lomachenko to a unification fight,” Russell said in a media conference call in December. “I believe if we fight again I will win. In fact I feel if we fought 100 times, I would beat him in 99 of them.”

And now that he’s taken the first step by seizing Gonzalez’s WBC title, it’s no surprise that Russell revisited that statement again on Saturday.

“We're definitely trying to get Lomachenko once again,” he said.

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This week’s title-fight schedule:

SATURDAY

WBC light heavyweight title – Quebec City, Canada

Adonis Stevenson (champion/No. 1 IWBR) vs. Sakio Bika (unranked/unranked IWBR)

Stevenson (25-1, 21 KO): Fifth title defense; Third fight in Quebec City (2-0, 2 KO)

Bika (32-6-3, 21 KO): Eighth title fight (2-3-2); Held IBO and WBC titles at 168 pounds

Fitzbitz says: Stevenson is a power puncher and could indeed get what he wants early, but Bika can make things awfully interesting if he’s still standing after six rounds. Stevenson by decision

WBC super flyweight title – Metepec, Mexico

Carlos Cuadras (champion/No. 4 IWBR) vs. Luis Concepcion (No. 1 contender/No. 40 IWBR)

Cuadras (31-0-1, 25 KO): Third title defense; Twenty-seventh fight in Mexico (25-0-1, 19 KO)

Concepcion (32-3, 23 KO): Third title fight (0-2); Second fight in Mexico (0-1, 0 KO)

Fitzbitz says: Concepcion has done everything he’s been asked at 112 and 115 pounds, except produce in title fights against punchers. A foe with a 78-percent KO clip here doesn’t bode well. Cuadras in 9

Last week's picks: 4-0 (WIN: Brook, Estrada, Russell, Nietes)

Overall picks record: 651-227 (74.1 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.