THERE were times during this latest training camp when Gary Antuanne Russell would have sworn his dad was still in his corner.
Last month brought up two years since the death of Gary Russell Sr, the man behind one of boxing’s greatest dynasties. Now 27-year-old Gary Antuanne, known as ‘The Last Russell’, is determined to ensure his late father’s hard work does not go to waste.
“It goes back to how our family is structured,” explains the erudite and lucid southpaw from Maryland. “We started off as a close-knit family and practiced a royal concept, a royal order. You’ve got the king, you’ve got the queen, then the king passes away, ascends, then the next in line is the junior. Then the junior ascends and the next in line moves up. But the information gets passed down as a dynasty.”
In short, that is why Russell’s head trainer is now Gary Russell Jr, the former WBC featherweight champion, and that is why Gary Antuanne has remained one of the sport’s most promising contenders despite the absence
