by David P. Greisman

About two months after Lamar Russ lost a unanimous decision to middleweight contender Matthew Macklin, Russ has announced that he will be leaving the 160-pound division behind in favor of the 154-pound weight class.

“We feel that we can make a big difference in the division,” Russ wrote on Facebook on Wednesday evening.

Macklin outpointed Russ, who came in as a late replacement for Willie Nelson on the Dec. 7 televised undercard to the HBO show featuring Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. Joseph Agbeko and James Kirkland vs. Glen Tapia.

That loss put the 27-year-old at 14-1 with 7 knockouts. According to BoxRec, his entire pro career has been fought between middleweight and super middleweight, with Russ weighing in as low as 159 for Macklin and as high as 165 for a couple of bouts in 2010.

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