Mark Magsayo upset to stop Gary Russell Jr.’s long WBC feather series championship control

The longest active run of a male title holder in boxing is over.

Mark Magsayo shocked Gary Russell Jr. by a majority decision on Saturday night – 114-114, 115-113 and 115-113 – to win the WBC Feather Series Championship in Atlantic City, New Jersey, taking Russell to the championship after nearly seven years. WBC belt.

“This is my dream come true,” Magsayo said at Showtime after the match. “This has been my dream since I was a child.”

Russell (31-2, 18 KO), 33, became Saturday’s longest reigning boxing champion at the age of six and 10 months – his title on March 28, 2015, when he made a technical knockout. In the fourth round of Jhonny Gonzalez.

But Russell’s reign was not incredibly active. He fought five times between winning the title and then Saturday’s defeat – including a nearly two-year break from Tugstsogt Nyambayar’s victory on Saturday, February 8, 2020. Russell has not fought more than once a calendar year since 2014.

And Russell’s time as a champion ended when he wasn’t in full force – said after the fight that he believed he had a torn tendon in his right shoulder that he felt hurt two weeks ago. Russell said he may need surgery and that it was an old injury that dates back to the 2008 Olympics. He threw 64 shots, far less than usual in battle. He often seemed to avoid many blows with his right hand.

“I refused to return this fight, and I fought with one hand,” Russell said at Showtime later. “He had his hands full of a fighter who had one hand throughout the match. I gave him a boxing lesson.”

Russell said he intends to request a rematch. He said he fought because “this is what the real masters do” and that he still felt he had given Magsayo a “boxing match” despite his injury.

Magsayo, a 26-year-old from the Philippines, said he noticed Russell was injured during the fight and tried to take advantage of it in later rounds.

Magsayo (24-0, 16 KO) threw 203 assists in battle. Magsayo also dropped Russell in the knockout. Magsayo received 140,340 power-ups and Russell 58,259.

Russell managed to avoid many of Magasyon’s attempts to actually hurt him, but it was clear that Russell was fighting virtually with one hand.

Meanwhile, Magsayo remained aggressive for most of the match – except for a few rounds of calm that really kept Russell at battle.

Before it became clear that Russell was injured, Magsayo came in strongly in the first two rounds, a clear striker for Russell, forcing him to retreat several times. Magsayo was more powerful – he made 26 punches to Russell’s seven – and also seemed to move better.

This victory makes Magsayo the latest champion in the Philippines – and Manny Pacquiao immediately congratulated him on Twitter, welcomed him to the club and “brings glory to our country by becoming the last Filipino world champion in boxing”.

“I’m so proud,” Magsayo said, “that I’m a champion now.”