First, the Capitol Heights, Maryland, native has to defend his WBA title for the first time against undefeated Japanese southpaw Andy Hiraoka on “The Ring: High Stakes” Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on DAZN PPV. But if he were to beat Hiraoka, Russell (18-1, 17 KOs) is adamant that he will seek unification bouts next.

If all were to go according to plan, he envisions beating IBF titleholder Richardson Hitchins and WBC champ Dalton Smith before facing newly-crowned Ring and WBO champion Shakur Stevenson for all of the belts.

“I think if I fought Shakur Stevenson, that'll break the internet,” Russell told The Ring on Wednesday. “That'll definitely give me all the credit that I'm due, because Shakur, right now, he shook up the game a little bit, showcased his talent, came up to another division and just put on a spectacular performance against Teofimo Lopez.

“Congratulations to him or whatnot, but he has a title, and he's on the radar. If I beat him, I feel like I would then earn the credit that I deserve, like I, Gary Antuanne Russell, am the true boogeyman of 140.”

WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios vs. Ryan Garcia headlines “The Ring: High Stakes.” Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs), The Ring’s No. 3-ranked junior welterweight, is also on the card and will face Oscar Duarte (30-2-1, 23 KOs).

Russell hopes to unify with Smith (19-0, 14 KOs) first. The 29-year-old Englishman, The Ring's No. 2-rated contender at 140 pounds, won the WBC belt with a fifth-round knockout of Subriel Matias on Jan. 10.

“He's just safe,” Russell said of Smith. “He does what's right, got good defense. He throws the right punches [and has] good punch selection at times. Other than that, he's straight up and down the textbook fighter. I don't see any creativity in him. He does what's necessary [and is] obedient.

“You can't blame him for that, and he’s got the belt that I want. I really like the WBC belt, it looks good. It's green, the color of money.”

Russell, who is The Ring’s No. 8-ranked junior welterweight, became the WBA champion with a dominating unanimous decision over Jose Valenzuela on March 1. In that outing, he believes he showed a different side compared to his split decision defeat by Alberto Puello one fight earlier in June 2024.

The winning version is one Russell promised would show up every time he steps into the ring moving forward.

“I had a chip on my shoulder,” Russell said. “I said, 'I am [going to] dismantle him all 12 rounds so they can't say he won anything. He’s going to have to take this from me for real.' That's what I had on my shoulders when I went into that Valenzuela fight.”

He was originally scheduled to face Hiraoka (24-0, 19 KOs) on Nov. 14 on the undercard of Gervonta Davis vs. Jake Paul, but the entire card was scrapped because of Davis’ ongoing legal issues.

Russell, 29, leaned on his brothers, including his trainer and former featherweight champion Gary Russell, to navigate the difficult times. Now, he feels more prepared to face Hiraoka two months after they were originally scheduled to face off.

“I got a great camp,” Russell said. “When I talk about my camp, I'm referring to my brothers. We’ve got a really strong in-house bond. When it comes down to the whole training thing, we understand the dynamics of how we can overwork or underwork ourselves.

“We put our heads together, and just saw that we had to dial it back a little bit, not too much, but make sure that I'm ready to fight. We dialed it down as we had an extra amount of time, and once it got closer, that's when we intensified the training camp. It was all in the plans. The transition was smooth.”