It’s Showtime in Allentown for the Gary Russells and Rigondeaux

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – To hear singer/songwriter Billy Joel tell it in his 1982 hit Allentown, this city of 121,433 souls, according to a 2018 census, might still be viewed by some as an urban slag heap whose remaining denizens are as devoid of hope as, say, some of their more recent forebears were of their hometown returning to the industrial glory days that extended from the early 1800s to the mid-1960s. This is how Joel depicted the place 38 years ago:

Well, we’re waiting here in Allentown

For the Pennsylvania we never found

For the promises our teachers gave

If we worked hard

If we behaved

So the graduations hang on the wall

But they never really helped us at all

No, they never taught us what was real

Iron and coke, chromium steel

And we’re waiting here in Allentown

But Joel’s lyrics are as outdated now as such ’80s fads as mullets and parachute pants. Allentown, located 60 miles north-northwest of Philadelphia, is no longer so fiscally dependent on its once-rich, now played-out coal beds. It is the fastest-growing city in the Keystone State, and its third most populous overall behind Philly and Pittsburgh. It also could evolve into a new destination for attractive boxing events, if Saturday night’s Premier Boxing Champions-staged, Showtime-televised card is any indication.

Like Allentown, the fighters topping the card in separate bouts at the 5½-year-old PPL Center — WBC featherweight titlist Gary Russell Jr. and former long-reigning super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux – come here with notable pasts and reason to believe they can survive and even thrive as they author the next chapter in their pugilistic careers.

The main event pits the 31-year-old Russell (30-1, 18 KOs) against the WBC’s No. 1 featherweight contender, Mongolia’s Tugstsogt Nyambayar (11-0, 9 KOs), which is just one of three bouts on a card featuring two more of the boxing Russell brothers. Junior welterweight Gary Antuanne Russell (12-0, 12 KOs), 23, takes on veteran Jose Marrufo (12-9-2, 1 KO) in a scheduled 10-rounder while middle brother Gary Antonio Russell (16-0, 12 KOs), 27, swaps punches with Jesus Martinez (27-10, 13 KOs) in an eight-rounder.

“I have my younger brothers on the card with me and in camp, pushing me every day,” Russell Jr. said of the family affair. “We’re ready, focused and hungry.

“It’s amazing to watch my younger brothers and to have them on the same card. I’m excited to work their corners. There’s never been a set of three brothers to become world champions, and I think we’ll do that real soon. They’re both extremely talented and hungry. I expect them to be better than me by the time they’re at this point in their careers.”

Rigondeaux (19-1, 13) is going solo, without the benefit of supporting siblings, but his scheduled 12-rounder against another old head, Liborio Solis (30-5-1, 14 KOs), might be the most interesting scrap of the night when one considers the Cuban southpaw’s advanced age (39) and a 2017 defeat that so stained the two-time Olympic gold medalist from Cuba that he is still trying to restore some of his lost luster.

Although he is the WBC’s second-ranked bantamweight in a new, lower weight class, Rigondeaux – a superb technician who for years was a staple on most experts’ pound-for-pound lists – caught more than a little flak after he quit on his stool after six rounds in a matchup with WBO super featherweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko in New York. Sometimes criticized for being “boring” as well as masterful, Rigondeaux, not always the most active of elite fighters, appears to no longer be quite so content schooling opponents en route to one-sided nods on points. He fought twice in 2019, stopping Giovanni Delgado in one round and Julio Caja in eight, but Solis, 37, presents a much sterner test. In fact, Solis, from Panama by way of his native Venezuela, is even ranked higher in the bantamweight division by the WBA at No. 1 to Rigo’s No. 2.

“Bantamweight is my division,” said Rigondeaux, who fights out of Miami and insisted he always has been a natural 118-pounder even when he was dominating at 122. I want to thank (trainer) Ronnie Shields for how he has prepared me for this fight. I can’t wait to step into the ring and become champion again.

“I’m going to be phenomenal in the ring. I’m going to unify at 118 pounds like I did at 122. I’m excited to get started.”

If Rigondeaux is still most of what he once was, he could prove troublesome to some of the division’s leading lights, maybe even to Japan’s Naoya Inoue, who holds the WBA and IBF belts and a spot on all those pound-for-pound lists where Rigo was once a fixture.

Speaking of pound-for-pound recognition, Gary Russell Jr. believes his absence from such is tantamount to a cold slap in the face. He considers himself one of the finest all-around fighters on the planet, even though he tends to ply his trade less regularly than most fans would prefer.  He fought just once each year from 2017 through 2019, and although he did fight twice in 2016, he did not fight at all in 2014, making for a leisurely slate of five bouts in five years.

“You should expect to see what you always see of me,” Russell said of those occasions when he does step inside the ropes. “Boxing at its best. A great deal of ring generalship. Good boxing IQ. Hand speed, Punching power. The total package as a fighter. As a matter of fact, I’m trying to figure out why I’m not on the pound-for-pound list given all of that. It’s an issue.”

Ironically, Russell – whose most recent ring appearance was a fifth-round stoppage of Kiki Martinez on May 18 of last year – hasn’t been off as long as Nyambayar, who will be ending a 13-month period of inactivity.

“I’m not worried about any ring rust,” he said. “I’ve worked so hard in the ring during training camp to make sure I’m the best I’ve ever been.”

Russell stressed that Mongolia has a history of producing renowned fighting men, although it’s been a really long time since Genghis Khan, emperor of the Mongol Empire, unified many of the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia in the 13^th century.

In addition to Russell-Nyambayar and Rigondeaux-Solis, the third TV fight on Showtime is a 12-round WBA super featherweight title eliminator pitting Jaime Arboleda (15-1, 13 KOs), of Miami by way of his native Panama, against Puerto Rico’s Jayson Velez (29-5-1, 14 KOs).

Photo credit: Amanda Westcott / SHOWTIME

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