Russell Jr, the longest reigning boxing champion

The 33-year-old fighter has owned his 126-pound title since 2015, but on Saturday night he will make only his sixth title defense. The fight against Mark Magsayo (9 p.m. ET, Showtime), an undefeated featherweight who is promoted by Manny Pacquiao and trained by Freddie Roach, will end a 23-month layoff.

Since winning the championship, Russell competed only once a year until 2021. He did not fight at all last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last time Russell (31-1, 18 KOs) competed more than twice in a year was in 2014, when he lost to Vasiliy Lomachenko in a vacant title fight between two wins in routine fights.

Why does Russell fight so sporadically? Russell says it’s no mystery.

“The reason I compete once a year is that we don’t have a dance partner,” said Russell, who was ESPN’s No. 1 featherweight before being removed from the rankings last April for inactivity. “I’m forced to fight the next best guy instead of a champion. I definitely want to be more active. I know I’m not happy with competing once a year.”

It’s not that Russell isn’t ready. “There are no concerns about ring rust. I’m always in the gym,” he said Thursday. “I haven’t taken two months off from training since I was 4 or 5 years old.”

When it comes to when and against whom Russell fights, it takes away the guesswork and uncertainty most boxers face in this fragmented sport. He fights who the WBC tells him to fight.

So when does he fight? His last five title defenses were against mandatory challengers: boxers the WBC ranked as his number one contender. The WBC requires each champion to make one mandatory defense a year, unless the fighter’s promoter secures an exception. Champions will generally face such opponents, but will also make one or two additional defenses against an opponent chosen by the boxer, promoter and manager.

But since winning the title, Russell has participated in only one non-mandatory fight. In 2016, he made his first defense against Patrick Hyland and won by second round technical knockout.

Still, Russell’s inactivity has benefits.

“I’m pretty sure it definitely preserves me,” Russell said. “We don’t do a lot of sparring. Honestly, I don’t spar unless I have a fight coming up. A lot of these guys come in beat up before the fight happens.”

Russell’s first mandatory title defense was a seventh-round technical knockout of fringe contender Oscar Escandon in May 2017. His next fight, a May 2018 decision over Joseph Diaz Jr, remains Russell’s best career win. Diaz won a title at 130 pounds and is currently ranked in ESPN’s top 10 at 135 pounds. Russell’s most recent win, in February 2020, also came against solid opposition in 2012 Olympic silver medalist Tugstsogt Nyambayar.

“I have a lot of respect for [Russell]. He’s always fighting in the mandatories, against someone the WBC considers the best in the ratings,” said Tom Brown, who promotes all of Al Haymon’s PBC events.

Now comes Magsayo, another mandatory challenger seeking Russell’s title. The 26-year-old fighter earned the title shot with a brutal KO of Julio Ceja in a championship eliminator in August.

“It speaks volumes about the pedigree of talent I’ve been competing against compared to a lot of these [other champions]. They’re picking who they’re going to fight,” Russell said. “They’re fighting guys who are done. They’re fighting guys who just have a name, but they know damn well they don’t pose a threat to them at all.”

“It reminds me of myself,” Pacquiao said when he signed Magsayo. “How we both struggled to go from nothing to being a world-class contender. I love his work ethic and his desire to become a world champion, and I will do everything I can to help promote Mark and make his dreams come true.”

Beyond this fight, fighters aren’t knocking down the door to fight Russell. And for the most part, Russell is OK with that. When he’s not fighting, he stays away from the limelight and drama of the sport.

Russell keeps busy hunting and farming. He boasts about toasting the Thanksgiving turkey for his large family for the past three years and is proud of what it takes to accomplish the task.

He hunts deer with a compound bow, crossbow or shotgun. And he grows watermelons, strawberries, mustard greens and kale on his property in Capitol Heights, Maryland. The lesson for his four girls and two boys: provide for yourself.

“When you’re on your own land, you can hunt whenever you feel like it,” he said. “It’s about just getting out and being part of nature and being completely silent and listening to the element. It’s very sensual, man.”

Russell tries to strike a balance between his two worlds, but unlike the peace he finds in nature, his quest for the fights he wants is harder to achieve. He believes the risk he poses to opponents, compared to the potential reward of getting a win over him, scares off top-level fighters. Russell is elusive inside the ring. He knows how to control distance and has amazing hand speed. What he doesn’t boast is star power or name recognition among casual boxing fans. Nor is he the most vocal fighter when it comes to selling himself.

“He’s making pretty good money, so it’s hard to pay Gary more than once a year if there’s not a lot of business to be done,” said Eric Bottjer, a lifelong matchmaker who currently works for Triller Fight Club. “If he’s getting $1.2 million per fight, he won’t take a second fight for half the money just to keep busy.”

There is a path for Russell moving forward, but it depends on securing a big fight that can cement a fighter’s legacy. Russell says he’d like to face Gervonta Davis and Lomachenko, in that order. Yes, both stars compete at 135 pounds, and Russell has never even competed at 130 pounds, but they are stellar fights.

A showdown with Davis seems more likely since both Russell and Davis are PBC fighters.

“I definitely pushed, but [PBC founder Al Haymon] can’t force these guys to get in the ring with me,” Russell said. “It doesn’t make sense on a business aspect for someone who is trying to protect his investment when it comes to a [fight] against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. Because there’s a good chance he’s going to get his ass burned.”

Given the different promoters and the way their first fight played out, a rematch against Lomachenko seems unlikely. What does seem feasible, if Russell fights again in 2022, is a title fight at 130 pounds. PBC will stage a super featherweight title fight on February 26 between Chris Colbert and Roger Gutierrez (who is promoted by Golden Boy) on Showtime.

If Colbert wins, as expected, PBC could look to set up a fight with Russell later this year.

“Whoever the winner is between the two of us, I wouldn’t mind going up and competing against the champion,” Russell said. “I refuse to move up in weight and have to vacate my title just to compete and possibly fight the champion after that. I refuse to do that.”

“If I can’t get [Davis or Lomachenko], then I’d love to have a unification fight with anyone in the division.”

And perhaps, 2022 will be a year of vindication for Russell. If Colbert beats Gutierrez, a possible Russell win over Colbert at super featherweight would make him a two-division champion. It would also, once and for all, stop the inactivity that he says has frustrated his fans.

“Of course I share their frustration,” he said. “Hell yes, I’d be willing to fight. I definitely have time to fight if I have someone who’s willing to fight.”