Boxing analyst lambasts Russell for fighting Magsayo with an injury: 'He took the money and ran'

Veteran boxing analyst Atty. Ed Tolentino believes that former WBC world featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. robbed boxing fans of a great fight when he faced Mark Magsayo with an injured right shoulder.

The pair locked horns last Sunday where the Filipino won via majority decision to snatch the WBC world title.

But according to Tolentino, the fight turned out to be anti-climactic because Russell was apparently not in fighting shape.

“The fight was kind of anti-climactic because whatever pre-fight analysis we had might as well throw it away because Gary Russell Jr. has an injured right shoulder,” said Tolentino.

“From the sixth to the last round zero jabs were thrown, and this is a guy averaging 30 to 35 jabs per round. Half of his knockouts came from his right hook but he was limited to being a one-armed fighter,” he added.

“We are not going to take anything away from the win of Mark Magsayo because he came in prepared. It is not his fault that Russell came in with an injured shoulder.”

Russell, 33, was coming off a 23-month layoff heading into the sixth defense of his title.

He revealed before the fight that he was nursing an injury but did not disclose what it was until it became apparent during the bout when he hurt himself in round 4 after throwing a punch.

After the fight, he admitted that he came into the fight the shoulder injury, but believed that a "true champion" would have competed anyway as he did.

But Tolentino had a different opinion.

“The way I see it, he should have called off the fight because he was cheating the fans by fighting injured. He took the money and ran. You are paid lots of money as a boxer, you owe it to the fans to show up at least in competitive shape. That is your obligation,” Tolentino stressed.

“We were all expecting a competitive fight. We all know what Magsayo is capable of, we all know what Russell is capable of, that is now the Russell we know. What he did was a big letdown.”

—JMB, GMA News