Marco Antonio Rubio to fight Chavez Jr. next for WBC middleweight title

By Boxing News - 12/17/2011 - Comments

Image: Marco Antonio Rubio to fight Chavez Jr. next for WBC middleweight titleBy Jason Kim: Number #1 ranked WBC middleweight contender Marco Antonio Rubio (53-5-1, 46 KO’s) will finally be getting his long awaited world title shot against World Boxing Council middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (44-0-1, 31 KO’s) on February 4th next year, according to the latest boxing news.

This comes after Rubio made easy work of journeyman Matt Vanda (44-14, 24 KO’s) last night with a 5th round TKO win at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s interesting about Rubio destroying Vanda so easily is that Vanda is the same guy that Chavez Jr. had to twice struggle to beat in 2008 and 2009. Chavez Jr. appeared to lose to Vanda in 2008, but was given a 10 round split decision victory.

Earlier this week, the WBC ordered that Chavez Jr. will have to make his next title defense against former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez or else face having the title stripped from him. However, Chavez’s promotional company Top Rank has reportedly made contact with Martinez’s promoters to let them know that they get the first crack at the winner of the Rubio-Chavez Jr. bout. It looks as if Martinez’s promoters are going along with it, because the Chavez Jr. vs. Rubio fight is next on the agenda for Chavez Jr.

This should be an excellent fight. Rubio, 5’10”, isn’t as tall as Chavez Jr. nor as heavy, but he hits plenty hard and could give Chavez Jr. a lot of problems if he elects to try and punch with the hard hitting Rubio. That wouldn’t be a wise thing for Chavez Jr. to do, because this isn’t John Duddy or Peter Manfredo Jr., two of Chavez’s recent victims.

Martinez wants to badly be the one to hand Chavez Jr. his first defeat but Rubio might take him out beforehand. He’ll be big trouble for Chavez Jr. unless Freddie Roach, Chavez’s trainer, can get Chavez to work more on his defense in this fight.



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