Gary Russell jr (30-1) is facing his mandatory challenger Tugstsogt Nyambayar (11-0) in the fifth defense of his WBC featherweight title. Most people in the United States have never heard of Nyamabayar before and thinks that this will be an easy defense for Russell jr, but let us enlighten you: Nyambayar is a very good fighter with a lot of good attributes that saw him capturing a silver medal at the London Olympic games 2012, losing in the finals to the Cuban that also beat Shakur Stevenson in their final in 2016. This might prove to be an even tougher fight for Russell jr than his defense against JoJo Diaz. Gary Russell jr is the favourite to win this fight with the odds on him being -400. Picking Nyambayar provides the odds +300. You get the feeling after seeing the interviews and fighter meetings that Nyambayar will be going all in and he has the belief that he can pull out a victory. He really believes in himself. The problem for him is that he lacks much experience against elite professional guys and Gary Russell jr has a difficult style to figure out and the hand speed he possesses is incredible, and that is difficult to prepare for.
Russell jr is correctly the favourite in this fight and although Nyambayar does have a lot of qualities, it is difficult to see him winning seven clean rounds against Russell jr. We do however predict that Russell jr will be having made to work very hard in each and every round to retain his title. We see him winning a close decision but the safe pick is to simply pick Gary Russell jr to win this fight for a price of -400 (1.25 decimal odds)