By Dan Ambrose: With his impressive 7th round stoppage victory over previously unbeaten middleweight contender Davi Lemieux (25-1, 24 KO’s) last Friday night in a WBC middleweight title eliminator bout in Montreal, Canada, Mexican Marco Antonio Rubio (50-5-1, 43 KO’s) earned a shot at the winner of the June 4th fight between WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

This is like a dream scenario for Rubio, because he’s now poised to get a title shot against someone that he will have an excellent chance at beating. Zbik is a paper champion with little power and only marginal experience against top level opponents.

Chavez Jr, 24 has spent his entire eight-year pro career fighting carefully selected 2nd tier opposition. For either one of those fighters, Rubio will present about as big a step up as it was for Lemieux in facing him. Indeed, Rubio is a lot better than the guys that Chavez Jr. and Zbik have been fighting their entire careers.

Rubio is in a great position to capture the WBC title and then line himself up for someone big like Sergio Martinez. But first things first, Rubio has to beat Zbik or Chavez Jr. The ideal opponent would be Chavez because that would make for an all Mexican match-up, and the fight would do really well in Mexico in a stadium and on television.

Rubio with his big power and his relaxed way of fighting would have to be the favorite in that fight. Chavez Jr. can punch a little but he doesn’t have the heavy hands that Rubio possesses. Without much in the way of defensive skills, Chavez Jr. would have a great deal of problems with Rubio’s power shots. I can see Chavez Jr. getting knocked out and battered. John Duddy, who is not a big puncher, staggered Chavez Jr. in their fight last year. If Duddy can stagger Chavez then Rubio can knock him out.