Gary Antuanne Russell says he’ll fight identically to Ryan Garcia when he gets to fight WBC 140-lb champion Devin Haney. Russell wants to emulate Ryan to defeat Haney (31-1, 15 KOs), who is coming off a bad loss last April.
Russell (17-0, 17 KOs) is ranked #2 WBC and will be next up for Haney after he defends against his mandatory challenger Sandor Martin if he faces him. That’s still up in the air right now.
Russell Promises Relentless Pressure Against Haney
“It’s going to be identical to that Ryan joint! I’m telling you because I’m applying pressure! I’m applying pressure,” said Gary Antunanne Russell to MillCity Boxing about how he would fight Devin Haney when he could fight him.
The sharks in the 140-lb division like Russell view Haney as food, seeing weakness in him after his loss to Ryan Garcia on April 20th, and they’re all pushing for a chance to fight the vulnerable champion. Russell is bad news for a champion with a weak chin and zero punching power. He’s all wrong for Haney.
Haney will likely string it out for as long as possible before he defends his WBC title against Russell. I don’t see it happening. You’d hate to see Haney drag the defense out indefinitely, but it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll ever choose to fight Russell.
Haney’s Pursuit of Bigger Paydays
Haney wants a big-money fight against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz. Those are the main two on his list.
Haney is already struggling to make the 140-lb limit, and if he strings out a title defense against Russell for 1-2 years, he’ll be too big by then to make weight for the light welterweight division and will be forced to move up to 147 or 154.
Russell is fighting Alberto Puello (22-0, 10 KOs) next month on June 15th on the Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin card on Prime Video PPV at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
That’s a fight where Russell will have a chance to gain a lot of visibility, as he’s been mostly inactive, and his past fights have gone under the radar for the general boxing public.
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