By Keith Idec

Gary Russell Jr. has felt fresher and stronger in the days leading up to his second title shot than he did during the buildup before he lost to Vasyl Lomachenko nine months ago.

Russell believes the strength and conditioning program he followed in preparation for the Lomachenko match doomed him before he even set foot in the Stub Hub Center ring June 21 in Carson, Calif. The former American Olympian claims he was completely exhausted in the first round of a 12-round fight he lost to Ukraine’s Lomachenko (3-1, 1 KO) by majority decision.

The 26-year-old Russell refused to name the strength and conditioning coach he used for only the Lomachenko bout, but the featherweight contender made it clear he hasn’t worked with him since. Russell (25-1, 14 KOs), of Capitol Heights, Md., will weigh in Friday for his fight Saturday night against WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8, 48 KOs) at Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas (Showtime; 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).

“We brought someone [different] in for our strength and conditioning [before the Lomachenko fight],” Russell said on a conference call. “Our strength and conditioning was completely different. Even when it came to the way that we cut weight, it was different. Leading up to the fight, we were in a sauna for the past two, maybe three days leading all the way up into the fight. That’s what my strength and conditioning coach wanted me to do.

“We’re definitely not going to mention any names, but that was one of the things they wanted us to do. Of course my dad put him in the forefront and of course I did everything that I can to just listen to and execute everything that he wanted us to do. Anyone that seen that fight, whether it was [against] Lomachenko or anyone else, they’ve seen the difference in my punching ability, my endurance, my speed, just me as a person. People knew that that wasn’t the Gary Russell, Jr. that they’d seen the previous 24 fights. And that was some of the things that came up in the Lomachenko fight. I was completely tired and fatigued in the first round, you know? So that played a big factor.”

The bout between Mexico’s Gonzalez and Russell will headline a Showtime Championship Boxing doubleheader. It’ll begin with a 10-round junior middleweight match that’ll pit Houston’s Jermell Charlo (25-0, 11 KOs) against Vanes Martirosyan (35-1-1, 21 KOs), of Glendale, Calif.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.