Gary Russell Jr vs Mark Magsayo – Results & Post-Fight Report

Mark Magsayo took full advantage of injury and inactivity from his opponent to become the new WBC featherweight champion with a majority decision win over Gary Russell Jr at Borgata Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City.

Russell came into this one as the longest serving world champion in the sport, having won the famous green belt way back in March 2015 with a fourth round stoppage of Jhonny Gonzalez, but inactivity had been a feature of his career since, boxing almost once a year since that win. The 33-year-old had not been seen in almost two years, with a lopsided points win over Tugstsogt Nayambayar in February 2020 his last appearance. Filipino Magsayo earned his crack at the belt as the WBC mandatory challenger, and the 26-year-old was coming off a career best win, a tenth round knockout of former world title challenger, Julio Ceja, in August last year.

Magsayo started strongly, driving Russell back with strong shots in the opening round, and more heavy hands gave the challenger the better of the second, with Russell reduced to sporadic bursts. and combinations. Russell did have a better third, but the fourth saw the tide turned for good, as Magsayo trapped Russell on the ropes, unloading with the champion looking in some discomfort. Between rounds, Russell complained of a damaged shoulder, and he would hardly throw his left hand for the remainder of the contest, and it allowed Magsayo to build a lead going into the second half of the bout. Russell tried his best, potshotting and jabbing with his left, and he did bank some rounds as the visitor tired, but the champion was always going to find it difficult to win with one arm. Magsayo did have a second wind down the stretch, pouring on the pressure in the final two frames, and it seemed like he’d done enough to become the new champion.

This was confirmed on the cards, as two scores of 115-113 in Magsayo’s favour left a third card at 114-114 redundant. Russell will hope for an immediate rematch after recovery, as this looked a fight that he would have controlled and won had he had two functioning levers.

In the chief support, Subriel Matias gained revenge over Petros Ananyan, as he avenged his sole professional defeat by forcing Ananyan to retire after one rounds of their scheduled super lightweight twelve rounder. Ananyan dropped Matias on the way to a ten round points win in February 2020, but was no match for his opponent here. Matias was well ahead on the cards when right at the end of the ninth, a perfectly times left hand left Ananyan flat on his back, and the ringside doctor advised the fight to be stopped at the end of the session.

The aforementioned Tugstsogt Nayambayar continued his patchy form, as he was held to a three way split draw in his super featherweight ten rounder with Sakaria Lucas of Namibia. A 96-94 verdict for both fighters was cancelled out by a third tally of 95-95.

Son of the legend, Evan Holyfield, took a six round unanimous decision win in his super welterweight affair with Chris Rollins, while at middleweight, LeShawn Rodriguez moved to 13-0 with a one round stoppage of Sixto Suazo. At featherweight, Katsuma Akitsugi won the battle of undefeated, taking a six round decision win against Rasheen Brown.

Abamael Ortiz took an eight round decision win at super bantamweight against Ryan Allen, and Maximus Garland debuted with a second round win over Maria Black at welterweight.