Jhonny González vs. Gary Russell Jr.

González will make an optional defense of his WBC 126lb title in March against Gary Russell Jr., who is WBO #10 but not ranked in the WBC top 40.

2014 didn't go to plan for González, who this same time last year flatly denied then-unbeaten Russell's team a chance to challenge for the belt, insisting on waiting for a never-materialized summer rematch with 2013 KO1 victim Abner Mares (originally scheduled for last February and scuppered due to a Mares injury) a postponement that soon began to look permanent as González made two routine defenses while biding his time. González had expressed his wish to beat Mares in the rematch and make one more title defense last year before moving up to 130lbs, plans which obviously got put on hold as he sat around waiting.

Now the scorned party in Russell gets his chance to exact revenge for the snub (and make a 2nd try for a world title in less than a year, with only the 10-round unanimous decision over skidding Chris Martin standing as dues paid since he failed to snatch Lomachenko's WBO title), while González has the opportunity to put himself in line for that lucrative Mares rematch notching Russell's name on his belt.

This match-up is as "best case scenario" as it gets for either right now.

 

Agree! Not only for both combatants in terms of being high reward (though also high-risk...as González would be on the outside looking in now if he lost his title, with the Mares rematch slipping through his fingers once and for all, with maybe not enough time left at 33 for him to claw his way back to a title shot; and Russell can't really afford the image-tarnishing losing in his 2nd ever real step up in class would bring, either) but in terms of style meshing...and divisional significance.

There are better action fights to be made at featherweight (Mares vs. Marriaga, for instance) and more important ones (Walters/Lomachenko/Cuellar/Gradovich vs. each other) but this is right up there on both fronts.

 

Yeah, short time off between Martin & González, but Russell honestly never left first gear last month in shutting out the San Diego Kid.

I actually was under the impression that Russell was being positioned to challenge for the WBA title next, being on the Cuellar vs. Tamayo undercard that night.

The Argentine seems like exactly the sort of guy that Russell could be a stylistic nightmare for, and maybe the easiest pickings of the featherweight titlists.