A fight between Jose Valenzuela and Gary Antuanne Russell took place on March 1 for the WBA super lightweight belt. The event took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.'El Rayo' entered the bout with a two-fight win streak that included a victory over Isaac Cruz. Russell, on the other hand, was coming off his first professional defeat in his last fight against Alberto Puello.Both fighters threw a high volume of strikes in the early rounds of the fight but it was mostly Russell who was finding success with his attacks.In the second-half of the 12-round contest, Russell started to land heavy blows on his opponent.Russell outclassed Valenzuela for the majority of the fight and took home a dominant decision victory. The three judges scored the bout 119-109, 119-109 and 120-108 for the 28-year-old.