Gary Antuanne Russell (18-1, 17 KOs) out-punched and outworked WBA light welterweight champion Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela (14-3, 9 KOs), winning a hard-fought 12-round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Russell, 28, dished out a beating on Rayo, dominating most of the rounds, but taking a lot of vicious head hosts in the process. Boxing fans look at the scores and think it was an easy fight for Russell, but Valenzuela got his pound of flesh in the process. He was no easy out.
The Scores
– 119-109
– 119-109
– 120-108
Late Surge
What made you fight harder for Russell was fighting with emotion, wanting to get back at Rayo every time he got hit hard by him. This led to him taking some big shots down the stretch when he got reckless because Valenzuela was fighting harder, trying to score a come-from-behind knockout.
Russell walked into some big punches that staggered him several times. He still made it through with combination punching, and superior hand speed.
After the fight, Russell said he wants a rematch with WBC light welterweight champion Alberto Puello, who fought on the same card and had won his fight against Sandor Martin by a 12 round split decision.
“When dealing with certain opponents, you don’t need to bring everything out of your arsenal. You just need to bring what you need to get the job done,” said Gary Antuanne Russell to the media at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night after dethroning WBA light welterweight champion Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“That’s what I normally do, and people put me in this category, and make me feel like I was one-dimensional, even though I know I’m not one-dimensional. So, I had to bring some more tools out to show them. I can do multiple things.
“I told him, ‘I don’t care if you lose.’ Sandor Martin came to me and said, ‘What should I do?’ I said, ‘Do you want me to be real with you? I don’t care if you win or lose. I’m going to fight one of y’all,” said Russell about how he told Martin that he wanted to fight the winner of his match against WBC light welterweight champion Puello last Saturday night. Martin lost a 12 round split decision.”
