Gary Antuanne Russell isn’t sure if Viktor Postol will emerge as a difficult opponent.

The rising junior welterweight does recognize that the former WBC super lightweight champion is just the type of foe he needs to beat to ascend in the 140-pound division. Postol is 38 years old, but he is unequivocally the most accomplished, experienced opponent Russell will have faced in 15 professional fights once they square off Saturday night in the co-feature of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader in Las Vegas.

Postol (38-3, 12 KOs) has lost only 12-round decisions to unbeaten WBO welterweight champ Terence Crawford, undisputed junior welterweight champ Josh Taylor and former WBC/WBO 140-pound champ Jose Ramirez. Russell, 25, has knocked out each of his pro opponents (14-0, 14 KOs), but his six-round stoppage of the Dominican Republic’s Jovanie Santiago (14-2-1, 10 KOs) in his last fight is the most noteworthy win on Russell’s record.

“It’ll propel me to the next level,” Russell told BoxingScene.com when asked what topping Postol could do for his career. “In this profession, the objective is to obtain all of the belts or just be the best in the sport – period. The whole goal, I believe, is to climb the rankings of whatever weight class you’re in and excel in that weight class. He done fought the best of the best – the undisputed [champion, Josh Taylor]. He’s ranked by many different sanctioning bodies. Me, on the uprising, I just believe that he’s an opponent that’s not just only worthy, but he has the credentials that I need.”

Ukraine’s Postol, who is trained by Hall-of-Famer Freddie Roach, hasn’t fought since his debatable majority-decision defeat to Ramirez in August 2020 at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas. Postol believes he deserved at least a draw against Ramirez (26-1, 17 KOs), who lost his WBC and WBO titles to Scotland’s Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs) by another majority decision in Ramirez’s subsequent bout.

Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) thoroughly out-boxed Postol in their 12-round, 140-pound title unification fight 5½ years ago at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Two fights later, Postol tested Taylor, though the scores – 119-108, 118-110 and 117-110 – didn’t reflect the competitive nature of their 12-rounder in June 2018 at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.

“I think his credentials speak for themselves,” said Russell, a 2016 U.S. Olympian from Capitol Heights, Maryland. “You can’t take nothing away from any participant that deals with this sport. What they produce, they produce. They did that themselves. They had belief in their cornermen, their instructions. But as far as executing what they had to do, personally, they did that. They coach didn’t do it. The cut man didn’t do it. They had the strength, the energy from them individuals, but the work, they did it themselves. You can’t take nothing away from any participant that steps in this square.

“I haven’t been up against him yet, so I wouldn’t even really say he’s a difficult opponent. I just think that’s people being critics, an outside opinion. And normally, you always have a rangy fighter and a shorter opponent, and they always see this type of matchup. It’s difficult for a short opponent to get inside or the tall opponent to keep the short opponent away. And I think that’s just a typical viewpoint.”

In the main event following Postol-Russell, Brooklyn’s Chris Colbert (16-0, 6 KOs) will encounter Dominican southpaw Hector Garcia (14-0, 10 KOs, 3 NC) in a 12-round WBA super featherweight elimination match. Showtime’s telecast is set to start at 10 p.m. ET from The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas with another 12-rounder in which the Philippines’ Jerwin Ancajas (33-1-2, 22 KOs) will defend his IBF junior bantamweight title against Argentina’s Fernando Martinez (13-0, 8 KOs).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.