Facing an opponent clearly outmatched, Gary Russell Jr. displayed no signs of ring rust on Saturday night, maintaining his annual tradition of entering the ring with finesse and dominance.

Russell’s superior speed, intelligence, and power overwhelmed Kiko Martinez for over four rounds, culminating in a fifth-round stoppage on the Deontay Wilder-Dominic Breazeale undercard at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Russell (30-1, 18 KOs) asserted his dominance over Martinez (39-9-2, 28 KOs) before their scheduled 12-round bout was halted due to a severe gash over Martinez’s left eye, prompting referee Ricky Gonzalez to intervene at 2:52 of the fifth round.

The 30-year-old Russell, defending his WBC 126-pound championship for the fourth time since claiming it four years ago, has maintained a sparse fighting schedule, with only one title defense per year from 2016 to 2018, following his knockout victory over Jhonny Gonzalez in March 2015.

This victory over Martinez marked Russell’s return to the ring after nearly a year, following his previous triumph over Joseph Diaz Jr. (29-1, 15 KOs) in May the year before.

Martinez, 33, a former IBF junior featherweight champion, has faced defeat by TKO against Russell, Santa Cruz, Carl Frampton, and Scott Quigg.

Russell’s speed advantage was evident from the outset, landing punches at will on Martinez in the early rounds and inflicting a cut over Martinez’s left eye by the second round. Despite Martinez’s attempts to pressure Russell and target his body, he failed to find much success.

Russell’s precise combinations continued to overwhelm Martinez in the later rounds, with a right uppercut in the fourth round momentarily halting Martinez’s advances.

While Martinez landed an overhand right in the fifth round, it was clear by the end of the round that the cut sustained earlier was causing significant bleeding. Referee Gonzalez, upon examining Martinez’s face, promptly stopped the one-sided contest.

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