Gary Russell Jr will fight for the first time in three-and-a-half years when he returns to action on Saturday, July 19, facing Hugo Castaneda on the Pacquiao vs Barrios preliminary undercard on Prime Video.
Three fights are set for the prelim portion of the night, ahead of the four-fight pay-per-view bill from Premier Boxing Champions.
Russell (31-2, 18 KO) hasn’t fought since a close loss to Mark Magsayo in January 2022. Having just turned 37 about a month ago, he’s breaking a long inactive streak — which never came with an official retirement — to face Castaneda (15-2-1, 11 KO), a 23-year-old super featherweight from Mexico who last fought on April 5, when he was dominated and stopped in four by Demler Zamora. On paper, it’s a safe matchup for Russell, but that’s a lot of time off, too.
David Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KO) will take on Japan’s Kyonosuke Kameda (15-4-2, 9 KO). The 24-year-old Picasso was meant to face Naoya Inoue at one point, but didn’t, and has had his last two fights as a featherweight. Kameda, 26, is also a featherweight, so it looks like Picasso is just staying in that division. The 26-year-old from Osaka last fought in February, stopped in seven by Luis Nery in Tijuana.
The aforementioned Magsayo (27-2, 18 KO) will also be back in action, taking on Jorge Mata Cuellar (21-2-2, 13 KO) in what looks like, for what it’s worth, the best-matched fight of the prelims. Magsayo, 30, lost to Rey Vargas and Brandon Figueroa in back-to-back fights after upsetting Russell in 2022, but has won three straight after stepping the competition back a bit. Cuellar, 24, has won five in a row in 2024-25, not at high level, but he’s rebounded a bit after losing two of three in 2022-23.
Along with the 46-year-old Pacquiao returning to try and win the WBC welterweight title from Barrios in the main event, the PPV undercard features Sebastian Fundora vs Tim Tszyu in a rematch for a 154 lb title, Pitbull Cruz taking on Angel Fierro in another rematch, and Brandon Figueroa meeting Joet Gonzalez.
