Mark Magsayo outpoints one-handed Gary Russell Jr. to win title

Gary Russell Jr. faced one too many obstacles in the end.

The long-reigning featherweight titleholder aggravated a right shoulder injury in the fourth round against challenger Mark Magsayo, which made him a one-handed fighter, but was competitive nonetheless Saturday in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

However, Russell came up just short on the cards against a busier opponent in Magsayo. One judge had it 114-114 but the other two scored it for the Filipino by the same score, 115-113, making him the new WBC 126-pound champion.

That’s all that mattered to the protégé of Manny Pacquiao, who promotes him.

“This is a dream come true,” Magsayo said in the ring afterward. “This was my dream since I was a kid, since I was an amateur. And now I’m champion. This is my dream.”

Russell (31-2, 18 KOs) came into the fight with a lot on his mind. The longest reigning champion until Saturday night, six years and 10 months, lost his brother to a heart attack in December 2020. His father and trainer Gary Russell Sr. is battling diabetes, which resulted in the amputation of a foot and limited his time in the gym. And the younger Russell had been out of the ring for almost two years.

Russell was able to push through all that but what he said was a lingering injury to his right shoulder, which he first aggravated in camp a few weeks ago, was too much to overcome.

He was able to use his right hand early in the fight but he evidently rendered the arm useless when he landed a punch early in Round 4, which produced a grimace. He barely used his right hand from that point on, fighting only with his left.

Remarkably, he was competitive, popping Magsayo with his left when he could and making the challenger miss many of his punches with his skill, quickness and athleticism. Hence the close scores.

However, Magsayo was able to have his hand raised for an obvious reason: He threw and landed more punches than the one-handed champion. Boxing Junkie scored it 116-112 for the challenger, eight rounds to four.

Russell was asked afterward why he didn’t postpone the fight long enough for the shoulder to heal.

“I was itching to get back into the ring and compete,” he said. “I injured my shoulder about two weeks ago in my training camp. I refused to postpone the fight, to push it back. I believed in my skill set, what I bring to the ring. And I felt I still won the fight, to be honest with you.

“… I fought with one arm. He had his hands full with a fighter with one arm the whole fight. I gave him a boxing lesson.”

Russell, who hadn’t lost since he was outpointed by Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2014, made it clear that we haven’t seen the last of him even though he turns 34 in June.

He doesn’t know whether he will have surgery on what he believes is an injured tendon but he plans to get past it one way or another and fight once again at an elite level. If anything, he seems more energized than ever.

“Please believe me that I’ll be back,” he said. “I still want these fights. I’ll get my shoulder fixed and be back at it.”

What about a rematch?

Magsayo was too excited afterward to even think about a second meeting with Russell, referring the question to his handlers and saying only that, “I’m willing to fight anybody now. I’m the champion now.”

Russell also was asked about a rematch. He left no doubt about his sentiments.

“Hell yeah,” he said. “Would he want a rematch? … That’s the question. I’ll rematch him.”