By Dan Ambrose: Number #2 ranked World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight contender David Lemieux (25-0, 24 KO’s) will be facing #3 ranked Marco Antonio Rubio (49-5-1, 42 KO’s) in a WBC middleweight title eliminator bout on April 8th at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Canada. Lemieux, 22, figures to win this fight by knockout, as the 30-year-old Rubio doesn’t have the power or the defense to keep Lemieux off for long.

Rubio, who’s career resume is badly padded with mostly soft opposition, fell apart when he was put in with WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in February 2009, Rubio ran the entire fight and he was finally taken out in the 9th in a one-sided fight. As slow as Pavlik is, you would think that Rubio would have been able to keep away from Pavlik for the entire fight with all the running he was doing in that fight. However, was able to walk Rubio down and get the stoppage.

Lemieux, is a lot better at cutting off the ring compared to Pavlik. He may have the height or the reach that Pavlik has going for him, but Lemieux is excellent at cutting off the ring. Rubio will be lucky if he makes it to the 3rd round in this fight.

The beauty of this fight is that once Lemieux cuts Rubio down, Lemieux will be on course to take on the winner of the fight between WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. I expect Chavez Jr. to win that fight and then be forced to fight Lemieux, unless Chavez’s promoter Bob Arum decides to prolong Lemieux’s wait by a year or three, by giving him a step aside fee to keep Chavez away from what would like a certain knockout loss to Lemieux. I’d be frankly surprised if we see Chavez in with Lemieux before 2014. I can see see Chavez being matched against other fighters to keep him winning and keep the money flowing in.