Rubio Defeats Ornelas

By Boxing News - 10/20/2008 - Comments

By Aaron Klein: Middleweight contender Marco Antonio Rubio (43-4-1, 37 KOs) hardly looked impressive on Saturday night, defeating Enrique Ornelas (28-5, 18 KOs) by a 12-round split decision in the WBC Middleweight Title Eliminator bout at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I had Ornelas, 28, winning the fight by seven rounds to five, out-punching Rubio in almost every round and landing by far the harder shots on the night. However, the final judges’ scores were 115-113, 113-115, and 116-112, giving Rubio the decision.

The win makes Rubio, the mandatory for WBC champion Kelly Pavlik, who was defeated in a non-title bout by Bernard Hopkins on the same card. Rubio, for his part, looked slow and not particularly powerful for a fighter with thirty seven knockouts of his forty three wins. He was a busy fighter, though, throwing a lot of punches and showing remarkably good stamina. Ornelas, who fought well from the 2nd round, seemed to fade badly by the 11th round, and lost both the 11th and 12th rounds to Rubio. If not for that, Ornelas would have been the clear winner of the fight, as he landed the harder shots and appeared to win most of the exchanges until tiring out in the last two rounds.

Rubio showed good footwork as he moved on the outside in the early rounds. He landed well to the body and head in the first round with big hooks. His hand speed and power weren’t very impressive, but his form was good and it kept him in the fight. Ornelas took over the bout in the second round, and appeared to win rounds two through four with his heavy combinations, many of which snapped Rubio’s head back. Rubio fought well in the 5th round, landing some hard hooks to the head and appeared to win the round. Mostly a head hunter, Rubio focused most of his shots there and largely ignored landing any punches to Ornelas’ body.

Ornelas came back in rounds six and seven, and once again began to tag Rubio with big shots to the head. Ornelas especially fought well in the last minute of every round, having an uncanny ability to know when it was the last minute, at which point he’d land an enormous amount of heavy shots to steal the round. Both of Ornelas’ eyes began to show swelling underneath them at this point and it looked like they might close. After looking good in the 9th and 10th rounds, Ornelas seemed to fade badly in the last two rounds, looking exhausted and taking a lot of punishment on the ropes from Rubio.