SHELTON, Wash. – Gary Russell Jr. is ready to get back in the mix on SHOWTIME EXTREME (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast) later tonight at Little Creek Casino Resort in Shelton, Wash. It will be the first fight for Russell since losing a twelve round decision to Vasyl Lomachenko.

Russell Jr. (24-1, 14 KOs), of Capitol Heights, Md., returns to the ring to meet former California State Champion Christopher Martin (28-4-3, 9 KOs) of Chula Vista, Calif., in the 10-round co-feature.

 “I’ve been training for about two months. My hands are fine and I’m roaring to get in the ring. I’m fighting a tough guy who is definitely confident that he can upset me, which is exactly the kind of fighter I want to fight.

“I will never get over the loss to [Vasyl] Lomachenko. Even if we fight again and I beat him, I will never forget that first loss.

“I expect 2015 will be a very big year for me. I want to fight for another world title, win it, and then immediately challenge Lomachenko to a unification fight. I believe if we fight again I will win. In fact I feel if we fought 100 times, I would beat him in 99 of them.’’