https://youtu.be/Bv3–gdHuVI
Gary Russell Jr. will turn 28 amid the great summertime heat == focused more at times on his looming retirement — than his pursuit of featherweight supremacy.
following a 10-round unanimous decision over Christopher Martin in December 2014 — Russell won his first title in March 2015 — scoring a fourth-round TKO of Jhonny Gonzalez in Las Vegas.
The bout against Gonzalez was Russell’s only fight last year and after battling injuries and postponement — Russell Jr. (26-1, 15 KOs), of Capitol Heights, Md., will face Irish contender Patrick Hyland (31-1, 15 KOs), of Dublin, from the Fox Theater in Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT.
Russell Jr sat down with BSO to discuss the fight on Showtime, chasing Vasyl Lomachenko, and much more.
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BSO: How has training camp been.
GRJ: “Hard. It was a hard camp and I embraced it. This is the toughest part about fighting — the preparation for it, the long hours, the sacrifice, being away from family and everything else. But it was good, that’s the good thing. We’re ready.”
BSO: Did the long lay-off from your headbutt cause any frustrations?
GRJ: “No I wasn’t frustrated, it was just basically following God’s plan, plus it allowed me to spend more time with my family.” “There’s always some ring rust to shake off, after a layoff that long. But that’s the purpose of these training camps, and it’s something I’ve been doing my whole life. We get everything situated in camp, to try to shake as much off as possibly by getting a lot of rounds in sparring.”
BSO: Your thoughts on fighting a sound veteran fighter like Patrick Heyland?
GRJ: “We take no one for granted and God willing, we’ll get past this particular fightwith Hyland, and after that, we want to unify.” ” I want to snatch up all of this hardware.” “I need to maintain control of the fight, close the distance and maintain the jab.” But I want complete dominance; I want to touch the body early. He likes to move a lot, so we’re going to cut all that down.”
BSO: Can you talk about all the noise surrounding your plans to retire in a few years? Especially when you’re still fighting at a really high level.
GRJ: “I’ve been fighting for my entire life. I’m 27 years old and I’ve been boxing since I was 7. “It’s definitely accurate that I’m thinking about retirement.” I have a wife and three daughters ages 7, 3 and 2, and boxing takes a lot away from my time.” “I’ve been fortunate to be able to execute a lot of discipline and to obviously not get hit too much as a fighter, but I don’t want to be fighting past my prime.”
BSO: Your division is loaded; any plans to unify the division before you walk away?
GRJ: “Exactly, those are my exact plans.” “Immediately after Hyland, we want to unify against the winner between Lee Selby and Eric Hunter.” “After that Leo Santa Cruz.” “And then, maybe Abner Mares gets a shot at these titles. I wouldn’t mind going against him, because his fan base is still strong and he still has the revenue that we’re looking for.” And then Lomachenko has got to see me. That’s pretty much how it is.” “I need Lomachenko in a rematch.” I don’t care what weight dude moves to.”