According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, undefeated Lamar Russ will step in for the injured Willie Nelson and face former world title challenger Matthew Macklin on December 7th in Atlantic City on HBO.
“This is a huge step up for the kid [Russ] but he really wants the opportunity,” said Lou DiBella, who promotes Russ and Macklin. “I think it’s a huge step up for Lamar, but he’s a terrific prospect and obviously we’ll see if he is ready for this kind of fight. He’s certainly a good young fighter. He doesn’t have the experience or the seasoning that Matt has, but he’s talented and he’s new blood in the division, and I know he will try. Matt welcomed the challenge and was willing to fight him. He knows he is fighting a hungry fighter.”
“I give Macklin respect for taking Russ, an unknown but hungry guy,” DiBella said. “And you have to respect Russ to taking this huge step up because he wants to fight on HBO. I give [Russ manager] Egis Klimas major props also for taking the fight. His attitude is that fighters fight and if you’re offered an opportunity you take it, because the worst that happens is you do your best and can’t pull it off. If Russ performs well, even if he loses, with only 14 fights, it won’t hurt him.”
