By Gerardo Granados: Marco Antonio “Veneno” Rubio (51-5-1, 44 KO’s) is the World Boxing Council (WBC) number one contender to the title, he is a rough and experienced boxer with good power; he had been patient but it seems that he wont let the WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (43-0-1, 30 KO’s) avoid him anymore.

First he wrote an open letter asking the champion if he was going to avoid him and asked if that was true because it was not possible to believe. Then he started to challenge him and now he has even stated that Chavez Jr. is afraid of him.

Professional boxing is a business as we all know, and we also know that you can not protect any fighter for too long before the fans start to look away searching for another fighter who will fight dangerous opposition instead of spoon fed boxers. It has become boring to hear that Chavez Jr. could fight a big name and then just a week later you hear that the fight won’t be done. The image of a fighter is based on his performance inside the ring; promoters can not convince even casual fans that a fighter is great if first the fighter do not prove it inside the ring.

Chavez Jr. size at fight night gives him the edge over many middleweight contenders, and that allows him to level his lack of power, speed or good defensive skills; He does have a great chin and is brave and determined; but if he is not able to improve his defensive skills he might not have a long boxing career.

Rubio is a good boxer; he has a lot of experience, in a title elimination bout he upset and TKO7 promising young contender Lemieux in David´s home town. Lemieux dominated the first rounds but was not patient or well advised on his corner and burned his power too early and at the end “Veneno” out work him and took advantage of the flaws in David´s defense.

Neither Chavez Jr. or Rubio can be considered as the top three middleweight boxers, and both could have a good chance to win the fight, problem for Marco is that he could end up loosing if the fight goes to the judge cards as the Zbik fight proved.

Chavez Jr. should know better, he should know already that to become the best and to be remembered as one of the best fighters of his era he needs to do what his father did, and that is to fight against the ones who are considered to be the best contenders or fellow division champions, or at least never avoid a dangerous rival not even the ones who are better skilled, faster or more powerful; do you remember Edwin Rosario or Meldrick Taylor fights against Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.?

The son of the legend will never reach the boxing level of his legendary father and he better not mislead himself believing that he will, and there is no shame on that because his father is a hall of fame member and is considered to be the best Mexican fighter ever. But being Chavez Jr. a Mexican fighter he should know very well what is it that characterize the boxing style of these ring warriors; he is sure proud of his predecessors and will never try to bring shame on the tradition of the Mexican fighters who never quit no matter what happened during the fight, I guess you can ask Margarito about that issue. He better prove that he does not care about how good his adversary is because he will find a way to defeat him. He was raised by a champion who never backed out against no one, who always gave his best effort and leaved everything he had inside that ring before someone had to stop the fight; just like that sad day when the old lion Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. was simply knocked out by a much better young lion Kostya Tszyu. There is no shame in loosing when you take a fight and prove that you will do everything you can do to win.

I believe Chavez Jr. has been wrongfully advised, I refuse to think that he is afraid of anybody or that he sees boxing just as a mere and cold business. I hope as many of his fans that he will come in to his sense and accept to fight against Rubio, who is a dangerous rival but not in the level of Sergio Martinez or the best pound for pound fighter. I wish that his promoters let him show what he is really capable of, he might not be the best skilled boxer in the division and he is beatable for sure, but they should let him show that he is determined and brave as any great fighter has been, let him prove that his heart is even bigger than the one his dad had.

If the fight can generate good revenues, if Chavez Jr. has a real chance to defeat his opponent, if “Veneno” is the mandatory challenger and if Chavez Jr. calls himself the WBC middleweight champion, then why not fight against who has challenged the champion and even has stated that the champion is afraid of him?

Could it be because Chavez Jr. is afraid of loosing his belt against Rubio? Or could it be because Chavez Jr. has forgotten that there are things more important than just money?