Bet he loses that title before we lose ours :cmsas2:
I wanna see who his 1st defense is against. Come to find out, he just did an interview on about 5 days ago:
GARY RUSSELL JR.: "HOPEFULLY MID-SEPTEMBER, Y'ALL WILL SEE ME REAL SOON DEFENDING THIS TITLE"
By
Percy Crawford | August 06, 2015
PC: We haven't spoke since you won the world title. Congratulations on that accomplishment. How do you feel?
GRJ: Yeah man, everything happens for a reason, man, and it was just time for it to come to pass.
PC: Can you give us your thoughts on the fight, because you were on that night. You looked like the Gary Russell Jr. we had grown accustomed to seeing.
GRJ: Oh yeah, everything was back to normal in that fight. A lot of people tend to say that I don't have no punching power and yada, yada, yada. That's cool. We need people to think stuff like that so that when they walk in here (laughing), when they at the end of this heat, it's a whole 'nother story. I knew that Jhonny was going to expect for me to run, box, and move. That was never the situation. We trained and prepared to take the fight to Jhonny. We wanted to keep the fight in the middle of the ring and counter him on the shots that we knew that he was going to throw. We executed the game plan perfectly and we got the W.
PC: I know it's never easy, but sometimes you guys as fighters make it look easy. Was that fight easier than what you were expecting? Were you expecting a dog fight?
GRJ: Honestly, I didn't expect for it to be a dog fight. All of the hard work is in the gym in the preparation for the fight. That's honestly where the hardest work is. The fight is always the easiest for some reason. I think the preparation that we put in, the hours, the time and the sacrifices that we make as fighters and as an athlete is hard, but everything comes together when it's time for you to perform. I knew that Jhonny...they kind of magnified the fact that Jhonny Gonzales can punch. Anyone can punch with 8 oz. gloves on. I don't care who you are in the ring with. A guy has to demonstrate a level of discipline on defense at all times during a fight; not just with Jhonny, but with anyone. We knew that he threw a lot of wide shots and we were able to counter and slip in and make him pay for the shots that he was throwing, man. Actually, the fight ended a lot sooner than I thought it would. If the fight would have went any further, I think Jhonny would have really had problems. It would have got real ugly for him.
PC: The great thing about your wins and you capturing that world title is you don't have to go far to celebrate with your family. What was it like seeing your pops get emotional and sharing that moment with him?
GRJ: You wanna know something funny? When it came to that, man, I was moreso happy for my father than I was for myself simply for the fact that I witnessed and watched my father, man, put his entire life on hold just to make sure that me and my brothers was on point. So honestly, it was more of an accomplishment for my father than it was for me.
PC: Boxing aside, everything that guys your age is supposed to be, you and your brothers are the opposite. You all are great people and very humble guys. Is that just the upbringing and expectations from your mother and father?
GRJ: It had a lot to do with the upbringing. I think the way that we were brought up and the way we were taught is completely different. We not taught to fall into the same types of stereotypes that society expects us to be. We are our own people; we are our own men. At the end of the day, we are real men. We are straight forward about everything. There are no secrets. If we like you, you know we like you. If we don't like you, you know that we don't like you. Our yes means yes and our no means no. I'm willing to do anything and everything to make sure my family is straight. We just straight forward people all around the board and I think it shows in our personalities.
PC: After you won the title, you attended an elementary school and kids were able to hold your belt and pick your brain a little bit. What was that like for you to be able to reach out to the youth, have them reach back and be someone they could aspire to want to be one day?
GRJ: It meant a lot to me. We have all done things in life that I'm sure we probably regret. God always gives us the opportunity to make it up. And I feel as though I've been blessed so much, if I have the ability to bless other people, then I take that opportunity. Just recently, I just linked up with Chic Fil A for PVA Boxing and when I was an amateur boxer coming up and competing in all these tournaments when I was 8, 9, 10 years old, it was difficult to win the right to compete in a tournament and your parents couldn't come up with the money to send you with the plane fare or your hotel fees and stuff like that. So we just linked up with Chic Fil A last week and we also have another sitting this week where I will be in Chic Fil A doing signings, autographs, and taking pictures and everything like that. And the entire time that I'm there, which is like a 3-hour timeframe, all of the sales that are being sold while I'm there, Chic Fil A will take 20% of all of the sales and donate it to PVA Boxing. This was one of the things that I wanted to do for the younger fighters coming up in these tournaments, so they won't have to go through the same obstacles and hurdles that I been though as an amateur. So hopefully it will help out. I'm just trying to do what I can to help and keep them focused.
PC: When do we get to see you back in the ring defending your title? Is there any tentative date?
GRJ: We looking at mid-September. We training now. I told you your timing was perfect because you caught me at the perfect time. I was literally just getting out of the gym. Hopefully mid-September y'all will see me real soon defending this title. We grinding.
PC: Do you feel any hungrier now that you have the title or do you think the hunger was heavier trying to win the title?
GRJ: Honestly, nothing has changed at all. A lot of people try to magnify that they became a world champion or that they are about to fight for a world champion. A reporter asked me a long time ago, "You fought on so many different events, which was the biggest event you felt you were a part of?" And I sat and really thought about it before I answered the question and I told them, "They were all the same." And the reason why is, no matter what the situation is, whether you're a world champion or former world champion or whether you're just starting in the sport, the end goal is to go in the ring and get it done to the best of your ability and try to come out with a W. That's all that matters to me. I'm not focused on the world title. I'm not focused on keeping it for X amount of years, my job is to go out there and win, and not only win, but to do it convincingly. So that's the biggest thing that's on my mind right now. I ain't focused on that title.
PC: It's funny you say that because I was speaking to your pops and he told me if I asked you where the title was, you probably wouldn't even know.
GRJ: (Laughing) I know it's at my parents house somewhere. It's not a thing where I'm ungrateful. I just don't covet. I feel as though I'm not in a position to just sit back and look at everything that I've accomplished yet. We still got stuff we gotta do, so we're not really focused on that right now. But that's funny because I really don't know where the belt is.
PC: I know your personality is a turn off to a lot of people, but I like the fact that you don't over exaggerate situations. I remember people felt you should talk more and that you downplayed everything, but that's who you are and you don't overblow situations.
GRJ: That's just me as a person. I apologize that I'm not an Adrien Broner, I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. This is who I am. We are really laid back. Every time I fight, you will never see a picture of me up on the ropes or see me running around the ring after I win a fight. You will see me maintain a level of calmness. I'm not going to do that because we expect it to be what it is, so I'm not going to act like we didn't expect to win because we do. We put the work in at the gym to get the results we want. We cut from a completely different cloth and it shows. People hate what they don't understand.
PC: It's always a pleasure speaking with you. Best of luck to you and your brothers, who are also doing big things. I spoke with your entire family and I told your pops they did a great job with you guys. Is there anything else you want to add?
GRJ: We back on this grind. Stay tuned!
GARY RUSSELL JR.: "HOPEFULLY MID-SEPTEMBER, Y'ALL WILL SEE ME REAL SOON DEFENDING THIS TITLE" || FIGHTHYPE.COM
...Gary russ will be waiting to relieve him off it 
