Even though he came from behind to win by tenth-round knockout over Julio Ceja in August on the Manny Pacquiao-Yordenis Ugas undercard, not many were expecting him to be much of a test for Gary Russell Jr. back in January. 

The prevailing thought by many boxing pundits was that Magsayo would be another mandatory title defense victory for the guy who at the time was the longest-reigning champion in the sport. Russell had been talking about moving up in weight to face the likes of Gervonta Davis and Terence Crawford. He even declared he was injured before the fight. Magsayo went out and upset the apple cart and beat Russell by majority decision to become the WBC featherweight champion. Looking back on the lead-up and heading into his first title defense on Saturday against Rey Vargas, Magsayo is of the impression Russell overlooked him instead of focusing on him. 

"Yeah, I think so," Magsayo told DAZN on if Russell overlooked him. "Because every time I heard him in the interview, he said Mark Magsayo is too slow for me. It's good that he thinks that. He underestimated my skills. So when we faced, he got shocked. He got surprised." 

Many people doubted Magsayo (24-0, 16 KOs) going into that fight, considering what Russell had done in the division. But, while the support wasn't there, the 27-year-old didn't need it from anyone else.

"I just believe in myself," Magsayo said. "I just believe in my training camp. I just believe in my sparring partners. And when I stepped up to the ring, I feel very confident. I (felt) like, ‘I'm going to win this fight because I've been really prepared, and I've been ready for this fight’." 

Unlike others, Magsayo wasn't shocked by his performance, except for one thing. 

"I (was) surprised that I can see his punch," Magsayo said. "They said that Gary Russell has the fastest hands in boxing. So I (was) surprised that I can see his punch. I can see his counters. So after the first round, ( I was like), ‘Ok, I got this’."