Russell wins WBC featherweight title with fourth-round TKO
Jhonny Gonzalez found himself in familiar territory Saturday, a place he didn’t want to revisit.
In September 2012, Gonzalez lost his World Boxing Council featherweight title to Daniel Ponce De Leon. Less than three years later, Gonzalez again lost his title, as Gary Russell Jr. knocked him down three times inside of 37 seconds in the fourth round at the Palms to score a technical knockout and win the WBC title.
“This is the kind of performance I expect, but you can’t get it every time,” Russell said. “I wasn’t surprised. Once I knew I could touch him with my jab, everything else was going to fall into place.
“The plan was to stand in there and not run and turn it into a track meet. We knew he was going to try to throw those wide hooks, so I was trying to bait him into throwing them and then counter, which I did.”
Russell, almost a 2-1 betting favorite, had his own demons to exorcise from a world title fight on June 21, when he lost a majority decision to Vasyl Lomachenko for the vacant World Boxing Organization featherweight belt.
On Saturday, Russell dominated from the outset, using his superior hand speed and energy to beat Gonzalez before a national TV audience on Showtime.
Late in the third round, Russell landed a big right cross as part of a five-punch combination that sent Gonzalez to the canvas. He beat the count, but was wobbly as he returned to his corner after the bell sounded to end the round.
And when the fourth began, Russell immediately pressured Gonzalez and dropped him with another combination a few seconds into the round.
Gonzalez got back up only to get dropped again by another Russell combination. Gonzalez again beat the count, but was clearly in distress at that point, and Russell barely grazed him when he went down for the final time. Referee Tony Weeks immediately stopped the fight.
It had been a rough 48 hours for Gonzalez (57-9). Not only did he lose his title, he learned Friday that he was being sued for breach of contract by his former promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, which is seeking damages of $1 million.
Jamie Quintana, a spokesman for Promociones del Pueblo, which promotes Gonzalez, said the fighter was aware of the lawsuit.
“He knew about what happened, and there’s no way it could not have affected his concentration,” Quintana said. “But it’s not an excuse. This was a fight we did not expect Russell to fight.”
But Russell (26-1) executed his game plan to perfection.
“This is definitely exciting,” he said. “I’m absolutely pleased. My father (Gary Sr.) is the painter, and I’m just the canvas. What you see is what his instructions are.”
In the co-feature, middleweight Jermell Charlo won a 10-round unanimous decision over Vanes Martirosyan to improve to 26-0.
Judges Dave Moretti and Lisa Giampa scored the fight 96-94, and Adalaide Byrd had it 97-93.
“I definitely expected a tougher fight,” Charlo said. “This was easy compared to what I thought I’d be in for.”
It took awhile for the two to pick up the pace, but Charlo was landing more effectively in the middle rounds. Then an accidental head butt near the midway point of the eighth round left Martirosyan’s left eye virtually shut. He was checked by the ringside doctor, and the fight continued.
Martirosyan (35-2-1) appeared to be more aggressive after the head butt, but to no avail.
“I thought I fought a smart fight in the ring,” Charlo said. “When I had to pick it up, I knew what time it was.”
Also on the undercard, Charlo’s twin brother, Jermall, had no problem with Michael Finney (12-3-1), winning their 10-round middleweight bout by unanimous decision to improve to 21-0. And super middleweight J’Leon Love (19-1) scored an eight-round unanimous decision over Scott Sigmon (24-7-1).
Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.
