Gary Russell Jr.'s next WBC featherweight title defense has been set.
Russell will face off against mandatory challenger Joseph Diaz on May 19 at MGM National Harbor in Maryland. That fight is planned to be televised on Showtime as part of a split-site telecast that will also feature the planned WBC light heavyweight title bout between Adonis Stevenson and Badou Jack taking place in Canada.
The current WBC featherweight champion's activity has been inconsistent in the past few years, fighting only once in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Russell last fought at the MGM National Harbor in his last fight when he defeated Oscar Escandon by TKO in the seventh round in a bout that was also televised on Showtime.
Diaz, who is the NABF and WBO NABO featherweight champion, is 26-0 as a pro boxer. Diaz has won all seven of his fights since the start of 2016. The 29-year-old Russell had been ordered to fight Diaz ever since the WBC gave a status update on all their champions several months ago.
The fight between Russell and Diaz will open the Showtime telecast and will end with the Stevenson vs. Jack fight. Showtime originally planned the split-site telecast to include a boxing card from the Barclays Center in New York and not the Maryland boxing card. The card got canned after Keith Thurman, the planned headliner for that event, suffered a hand injured.
