Gary Antuanne Russell is welcoming the mega matchup between Teofimo Lopez Jr. and Shakur Stevenson on January 31 with open arms.

Russell (18-1, 17 KOs) is the WBA junior welterweight titleholder, and Lopez (22-1, 13 KOs) is The Ring and WBO 140-pound champion defending his titles against the division debutant Stevenson (24-0, 11 KOs).

If Russell is able to get past his yet-to-be rescheduled fight against Andy Hiraoka, he’ll be in a prime position for a title unification fight against the winner.

But for now, Russell is flexing his muscles as an analyst and offering a prediction on how he envisions the fight unfolding.

“It's a 50-50 fight, and it depends on what fighter shows up the night of the fight,” Russell told reporters.

“They both have a high level of confidence. Naturally, I think Teofimo is stronger and has more athleticism than Shakur. Teofimo has a good IQ on the sport itself. But Shakur, I feel like he's a smarter and more technical fighter. I'm not saying he's a square, or a textbook fighter, but he's seasoned and poised. I feel like he’s mentally more mature. He doesn't go outside of the boundaries, or take risks. A lot of the time you'll see him fight stiffer competition and it will wind up being a boring fight, to a degree. That's why everyone is criticizing him. He's a careful fighter. Against Teofimo, I feel that he’s going to be a careful fighter. And just because he’s a careful fighter, it doesn't mean that he isn't punctual with how he does things. Shakur has a lot in his arsenal that he can use to make him victorious, as does Teofimo.

“If I had to give you my honest opinion, if Teofimo shows up and is ready to fight, just like how he fought against Vasiliy Lomachenko, he'll win.”

Lopez’s career-best performance against Lomachenko arrived over five years ago. He’s since suffered the lone loss of his career against George Kambosos Jr. in 2021 and looked vulnerable at times in fights, most notably against Sandor Martin in 2022. Lopez is coming off a unanimous decision win against Arnold Barboza in May.

Stevenson, meanwhile, fought out of his comfort zone and scored a convincing unanimous decision win against William Zepeda in July to defend his WBC lightweight title.