Filipino Boxer, Mark Magsayo, Won WBC Featherweight Title

Mark Magsayo jabbed his way towards winning the WBC Featherweight Title last January 23, 2022, against reigning champion Gary Russel Jr. adding another title in our column. #LabanPilipinas 

#RussellMagsayo

Written by Joshua Granado
Layout by Angela Delos Santos 

Posted on January 24, 2021  |  6:25 PM

After winning with a split decision in his fight against the reigning champion Gary Russell Jr. at Borgata Hotel Casino in Atlantic City, USA, Mark Magsayo became the new WBC Featherweight Champion.

Before the match, Magsayo was dubbed as an underdog against Russel, with DraftKings Sportsbook results of -360 favorite for Russel and +275 underdog for Magsayo. Nonetheless, Magsayo showed his determination to win the title by upsetting the predictions of the majority.

Magsayo won after 12 hard-fought rounds with one judge scoring 114-114, while the other two favored his performance, both rewarding him with a score of 115-113. This improves Magsayo’s record to 24-0 with 16 knockouts, while tarnishing Russel’s record with another loss, which results in a record of 31-2 with 18 knockouts. 

Both fighters fought at the center during the first three rounds, showing tenacity by throwing jabs and hard straights. Magsayo tactically aims for the body to slow Russel down, while casually giving right uppercuts on given openings. 

However, in round 4, Russel's shoulder injury started to affect his performance, which led him to play the vast majority of the match one-handed. But, Magsayo did not capitalize on the injury Russel had and kept on attacking Russel’s left, which allowed him to land his left-hand shots on Magsayo. 

Come round 11, Magsayo attacked urgently, following Coach Freddie Roach’s advice of throwing more punches.

In the last round, although Russel was able to prevent Magsayo from delivering finishing blows, he himself was not able to finish strong with one hand alone. In fact, Russel did not deliver any right jab from the sixth round onwards, due to the shoulder injury he was experiencing. Still, despite this, Magsayo won the bout fair and square.