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          Dan Rafael Blog

          Notes: Russell to defend featherweight title on Oct. 24

          Gary Russell Jr., left, captured his featherweight title with a fourth-round stoppage of Jhonny Gonzalez in March. Esther Lin/Showtime
          • Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior WriterSep 17, 2015, 05:04 PM ET
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            • 2013 BWAA Nat Fleischer Award winner for excellence in boxing journalism
            • ESPN.com boxing writer since 2005
            • Five years at USA Today
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          A few notes from around the boxing world:

          • Featherweight titlist Gary Russell Jr. will return to action on Oct. 24 for his first title defense, which will be on Showtime, according to Stephen Espinoza of Showtime Sports. Espinoza declined to name the opponent -- he said it's set but just not formally announced yet -- and added the card likely will take place in Southern California. Russell (26-1, 15 KOs), 27, of Capitol Heights, Maryland, was outclassed by Vasyl Lomachenko in a decision loss for a vacant belt in June 2014. Russell bounced back to win his next two fights, including an impressive fourth-round knockout in a one-sided domination of Jhonny Gonzalez to win a featherweight world title on March 28.

          • Featherweight prospect Joseph Diaz (17-0, 10 KOs), a 2012 U.S. Olympian from South El Monte, California, will face Mexico's Ruben Tamayo (23-6-4, 15 KOs) in a 10-round main event Oct. 23 (Estrella TV) at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California, Golden Boy Promotions announced on Thursday. East Los Angeles welterweight Frankie Gomez (18-0, 13 KOs) will face Mexico's Jorge Silva (19-9-2, 15 KOs) in the 10-round co-feature. The fight will be Gomez's first since he blew weight by a stunning 6½ pounds for a May 9 fight with former world titleholder Humberto Soto that was supposed to be the co-feature on HBO on the Canelo Alvarez-James Kirkland undercard from Minute Maid Park in Houston. Because Gomez was so out of shape the fight was canceled. The card will also feature the pro debut of Los Angeles junior middleweight Angel Bojado, the 21-year-old younger brother of one-time mega prospect Francisco "Panchito" Bojado, who flamed out and wound up incarcerated.

          • The Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame's seven-person class of 2015 has been announced. It will include promoter Lou DiBella; manager Shelly Finkel; Peter Timothy, the former boxing commissioner of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal National Commission at Foxwoods from 1995 to 2009; boxing writer Mort Sharnik; and boxing advocate Arnie Bayer. Being inducted posthumously are Hartford's Carey Mace, who boxed in the 1940s and 1950s and once knocked out former world champion Joe Giardello, and Bridgeport's George Russo, who competed in the 1920s and 1930s. The 11th annual induction dinner is Nov. 13 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.