Mark Magsayo vs. Gary Russell Jr. WBC Featherweight Title Preview

After a two-year absence from the ring, Gary Russell Jr. will finally defend his WBC featherweight belt this weekend. Russell’s last bout came on February 8, 2020 when he beat Tugstsogt Nyambayar by unanimous decision to make his fifth successful title defense, so he might have to shake off a little rust against challenger Mark Magsayo. Although Magsayo has a lot more experience over the last two years, he is still a sizeable underdog by the boxing betting odds.

Gary Russell Jr. will square off with Mark Magsayo for the WBC featherweight title on Saturday, January 22, 2022, from the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This card is slated to start at 9 p.m. ET with Showtime broadcasting every fight.

Mark Magsayo +358
Gary Russell Jr. -512

Since winning the WBC featherweight title in March 2015, Gary Russell Jr. has been seen as one of the best featherweights in the division and was recently ranked at the top of the class by The Ring and BoxRec. He has fallen out of most rankings though as a result of his recent inactivity.

Russell was a highly regarded amateur fighter that was seen as one of the United States’ best boxing bets to win a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Unfortunately, he was unable to participate in the competition after he lost consciousness while trying to make weight. Russell was deemed unfit to continue after the health scare, and he turned pro the following year.

He took down six overmatched opponents in 2009, and he ran his record to 13-0 by the end of 2010. Russell was able to get to 24-0 by the start of 2014, leading to a showdown with Vasyl Lomachenko for the WBO featherweight belt. In an interesting twist, Lomachenko was someone that Russell would have likely faced in Beijing.

Lomachenko was the most decorated amateur fighter in years. He won the gold medal in the featherweight division at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2009 Boxing World Championships in Milan, and he added on weight to win gold at the 2011 Boxing World Championships in Baku and the 2012 Summer Olympics in the lightweight division.

Considering Lomachenko’s prowess, Russell was an underdog by the Vegas fight odds. However, he acquitted himself well in his lone loss as a professional. The current champion lost a majority decision to Lomachenko, as he only landed 10% of his punches.

After a unanimous decision win over Christopher Martin Pena, Russell faced Jhonny Gonzalez for the WBC featherweight belt in March 2015. He scored a fourth-round TKO in order to claim his first title. Russell has been one of the least active champions since that point though, defending the belt just five times in the last seven years. He knocked out Patrick Hyland, Oscar Escandon, and Kiko Martinez, and he won unanimous decisions over Joseph Diaz and Tugstsogt Nyambayar in his defenses to come into this fight at 31-1 with 18 knockouts.

Mark Magsayo became a professional boxer in May 2013. The Filipino fighter faced his first 11 opponents in the Philippines, winning nine of those bouts by knockout. That led to Magsayo challenging for the WBO International featherweight belt in April 2016, and he scored a sixth-round TKO over Chris Avalos to win the belt.

Magsayo defended the title with a unanimous decision win over Ramiro Robles before knocking out his next two opponents in the first round. He also won a unanimous decision against Shota Hayashi and scored a fourth-round knockout against Erick Deztroyer before suffering the lone scare of his career. Magsayo only won a split decision over 11-4-1 Rigoberto Hermosillo in October 2020.

The challenger knocked out Julio Ceja in the 10^th round last August to reclaim the WBO International featherweight title. Magsayo enters his first major title fight with a 23-0 record and 16 knockouts.

The tale of the tape favors the challenger. Magsayo is 5’6 with a 68-inch reach, while Russell Jr. is 5’4 ½ with a 64-inch reach. Magsayo has entered the ring three times since the last time we saw Russell, so he is worth a shot at this price even though Russell has taken on tougher competition.