Gary Russell Jr. Defends His WBC Title For The Third Time!

(Photos by Daniel Cork)

In the twelve-round championship main event bout Gary Russell Jr. won by unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Joseph Diaz Jr. to defend his featherweight world title on Saturday at the MGM National Harbor.

Russell Jr. opened the fight by using his jab and going down to work on Diaz's body. Russell continued in the second round as he fired combinations that connected on Diaz and forced him back. 

Diaz came right back, working to the body of Russell and landing some heavy punches. Diaz had few answers as Russell continued to put his punches together to finish each round strong. 

By Round ten, Russell was well ahead on the scorecards but continued to land successfully on Diaz, who kept coming forward. When Diaz tried to apply pressure Russell landed his jab and followed with combinations to the body and head. Two judges scored the bout 117-111, and a third had it 115-113, all for Russell.

Russell is now (29-1, 17 KO's) while Diaz gets his first defeat and now is (26-1, 14 KO's). 

Post fight quotes:

GARY RUSSELL Jr.

"I hurt my right hand in the second or third round, so we had to make the adjustments. He couldn't get past my jab. When he got close, we made sure to smother him. Then we reset and got back on the stick.

"We train to survive those body shots. We put the work in every day in the ring. We consistently grind and push ourselves to be great. We push ourselves to the limit.

"I was disappointed in my performance, because I wasn't planning on going the distance. I hurt the right hand, but I still had to use it, because he could not get past my jab. 

"The jab definitely dictated everything I did. My speed offset everything he tried to do coming forward.

"We want a unification. We want to unify this division, or we're moving up in weight for another title. I want another belt."

JOSEPH DIAZ JR.

"The game plan was to break him down with the body shots and start attacking him more in the later rounds. But I started attacking him too late. I didn't pick it up until the 8th or 9th round. Gary Russell Jr. is a tremendous fighter and he did a great job keeping me at bay. I needed to start in sixth round.

"He was throwing a lot of pitter patter jabs to keep me at bay. He was trying to keep me guessing and make sure I had to think about coming in. Overall it was a good learning experienced and I'll definitely be back.

"I had a feeling he would try to stand with him and give the fans a knockout. I didn't think he would move quite as much as he did. 

"He wasn't hurting me with any shots. He was just very fast. It was keeping me guessing. When he threw combinations, I wasn't able to set my shots. I was a little bit hesitant. 

"This will just make me a hungrier fighter. I hope I got the respect of a lot of fight fans. I wanted to become champion against the best featherweight fighter in the world. Tonight wasn't my night but I'm going to bounce back harder and I'll be champion soon."