Showtime is set to televise a championship double header headlined by Gary Russell Jr.'s return to the ring.
Russell will defend his WBC featherweight title against Tugstsogt Nyambayar in the main event of a Showtime-televised card from the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania on February 8. The fight will see Russell defend his title for the first time since he beat Kiko Martinez in May 2018.
The WBC champion has held the belt since he beat Jhonny Gonzalez all the way back in 2015. However, his in-ring activity has only been limited to just one fight a year every year since 2015. Despite holding the title for 57 months, this upcoming fight will just be his fifth title defense.
Nyambayar has quickly risen to the top of the list of featherweight contenders, winning all 11 of his pro bouts. Nyambayar, who also owns a win over Oscar Escandon, is coming off a win over Claudio Marrero back in January 2019 to win the vacant IBO title.
Also announced for the card is Guillermo Rigondeaux going down in weight to fight Liborio Solis for the vacant WBA "Regular" bantamweight title. The fight was originally supposed to take place on December 21, but the fight was postponed after Solis encountered visa issues.
Rigondeaux has won his last two fights after suffering a defeat at the hands of Vasiliy Lomachenko back in 2017. In 2019, Rigondeaux scored victories over Giovanni Delgado and Julio Ceja inside the distance. Solis, a former WBA super flyweight champion, has won his last five fights after coming up short in two WBA "Regular" bantamweight title challenges against Jamie McDonnell.
Opening the televised card is a WBA super featherweight title eliminator between Jaime Arboleda and Jayson Velez.
