default-cbs-image

In the three years since Gary Russell Jr. suffered his lone pro defeat -- a majority decision to Vasyl Lomachenko in their vacant featherweight title bout -- both fighters have moved on to brighter pastures. 

Unable to find quality opponents, Lomachenko (8-1, 6 KOs) moved up to 130 pounds and won a second world title in just his seventh pro fight. Since then, he has leaped as high as No. 1 on many pound-for-pound lists. 

Russell (27-1, 16 KOs), meanwhile, won his next next three fights, including two by early knockout, along with the WBC featherweight title, which defends on Saturday against Oscar Escandon (25-2, 17 KOs) at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland (Showtime, 6 p.m. ET). 

But despite his recent success, the loss to Lomachenko continues to follow Russell. Media members constantly ask him about it. So Russell, 28, has a few words he'd like to share on the topic regarding his future and what actually happened in his loss to Lomachenko. 

"I would say that before my career is over, he's going to have to fight me twice [more]," Russell told CBS Sports. "I'd be concerned about the first fight and one of my main concerns is I might knock him out too early before I would get the chance to really invest the time and energy into him the way I really want to. So we will have to fight another time after that."  

Russell, a former U.S. Olympian, fully acknowledges the amateur pedigree of the two-time Ukranian Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko and has nothing but respect for it. But he openly claims Lomachenko would not be getting the attention he is today, adored by fans and media members alike, if he hadn't fought "someone who was recognized as the best of the best" like Russell. 

"No one knew who Lomachenko was as far as a professional," Russell said. "He lost to Salido. No one knew who Lomachenko was until he fought Mr. Gary Russell Jr., a dehydrated version of Mr. Gary Russell Jr."

When it comes to his June 2014 decision loss, Russell places the blame on a difficult weight cut. In the end, he blames himself, too, for bringing new members onto his team "who should have never been on board" to begin with. 

"We had to lose weight on the night before the actual weigh-in and the way we lost it was completely ridiculous," Russell said. "I was completely dehydrated and drained from all the fluids in my body."

The ordeal also taught him a simple lesson: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Since then, he has admittedly become more business minded in all of his boxing-related decisions, including fighting just once in each of the past two years to heal his oft-injured hands and protect his financial investment. 

As Russell puts it, the price of trying something new proved incredibly costly and robbed him of being able to prove against Lomachenko that he was the better fighter. 

"When you have a vehicle that runs perfectly fine, the engine is tuned and you already test ran it, and then someone goes and takes all of the oil out of the vehicle the day of the race, of course the vehicle isn't going to perform the way it's supposed to," Russell said. "Put some more oil in it one time. That's what it going on right now."  

Russell, who entered the fight best known for having the fastest hands in boxing, was repeatedly beaten to the punch by Lomachenko. Asked if he would confirm that it was, in fact, Lomachenko who had the quicker hands that night, Russell shut down the topic. 

"Listen man. I'm not going to keep going back and forth about someone else," Russell said. "If you're going to talk to me about what's going on in my career and in my fight, let's deal with that. I'm really done talking about Lomachenko. I'm ready to rumble, I'm ready to fight. I think if we fight again, I'm going to knock him out. That's the end of it."

If he can get past his mandatory opponent Escandon, 32, a native of Colombia, Russell said he'd immediately seek a unification bout against the likes of Lee Selby, Abner Mares or Leo Santa Cruz. If none of the titleholders at 126 will agree, he will immediately move up to 130 and seek a title fight. 

"It's time for me to bully people up there," said Russell, who believes at just shy of 5-foot-5 that he could one day see himself fighting as heavy as 140 for the right fight. 

So … what about the rematch (and potential trilogy) with Lomachenko? In one sense, boxing fans were lucky to ever see them fight in the first place due to the sport's political divide. Lomachenko, an HBO fighter promoted by Top Rank, only made the leap to Showtime as a one-off because the title bout went to a purse bid, which was won by Russell's adviser Al Haymon. 

"First of all, a rematch isn't even secure," Russell said. "I feel as though [Lomachenko] honestly feels that he got a gift. I feel as though he knew that the individual he faced wasn't the individual that everyone had seen compete and fight. We might not get the opportunity to compete again. He might just say, 'Nah, no more. I'm done with it and it is what it is.' That is very possibly what can happen."

In the meantime, Russell will focus on Saturday, which has all the makings of a family reunion of sorts. That's because he'll be joined on the card by two of his younger brothers, all of whom are trained by their father, Gary Russell Sr. In fact, Russell is one of six brothers in all. All of them are boxers and all of them are named Gary. 

Gary Antuanne Russell, 20, a 2016 U.S. Olympian, will be making his pro debut on the undercard at junior welterweight. Gary Antonio Russell (7-0, 5 KOs), a 24-year-old bantamweight, will also be on the card. 

"It's going to fireworks," Gary Russell Jr. said. "My younger brothers are doing their job and playing their part. I'm liking the development that I'm seeing from them in the gym. I think it's going to be explosive."