by Elisinio Castillo

According to sources in Colombia, Oscar Escandon (24-2, 16KOs) will challenge Gary Russell Jr. (26-1, 15KOs) for the WBC featherweight championship on October 24th in a Showtime televised fight.

As BoxingScene.com earlier reported, the opponent for Russell was slated to be Marvin Sonsona, who failed to report to training camp and he was withdrawn by his promoter Sampson Lewkowicz. Escandon, also promoted by Lewkowicz, was brought in as a replacement after other contenders were hesitant to face Russell on four weeks notice.

Overseas reports suggest Escandon was struggling badly to make the super bantamweight limit when he lost a close split decision in April to Moises Flores and immediately moved up to featherweight and received a #12 ranking by the WBC.

Russell captured the title in March when he knocked out Jhonny Gonzalez in four rounds in Las Vegas. The mandatory challenger is Mexico's Robinson Castellanos, who won a final eliminator earlier this year with Rocky Juarez.