By Allen Fox: Number #1 ranked WBC contender Marco Antonio Rubio (53-5-1, 46 KO’s) has the potential of wrecking the big plans of promoter Bob Arum for his young star WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (44-0-1, 31 KO’s) in their fight next month on February 4th on HBO. Arum needs Chavez Jr. to beat Rubio so that Arum can bypass Sergio Martinez for a second time and put Chavez in with another one of Arum’s fighter WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto for a big money fight.

Arum needs to make this move fast because he doesn’t want the WBC to strip Chavez Jr. of his title because it may be difficult for Chavez Jr. to recapture it once Martinez gets the belt back. It’s also unlikely that Arum will dare to put Chavez Jr. in with WBO middleweight title holder Dmitry Pirog. He’d have to steer Chavez Jr. towards WBA belt holder Felix Sturm or IBF champion Daniel Geale to get Chavez Jr. a chance to win another belt.

Rubio, however, has got a big opportunity to beat Chavez Jr. and really throw a monkey wrench into Arum’s plans for Chavez Jr. It still might not prevent Arum from matching Chavez Jr. against Cotto even coming off of a loss because he’s done that with Joshua Clottey in his fight against Manny Pacquiao, and he did that most recently by putting Antonio Margarito in with WBA champion Cotto with Margarito coming off of a loss a year earlier to Pacquiao. However, the interest in a Chavez-Cotto bout will dip big time if Rubio does a number on Chavez.

What Rubio has to do is take Chavez Jr. into the deeper waters to try and drown him the way Rubio drowned David Lemieux last year. Lemieux is a bigger puncher than Chavez Jr, and all Rubio did was let him use up his fireworks early in the first five rounds before going after him in the 6th and taking him out in the next round. Chavez Jr. likes to start fast and is strong in the beginning of his fights. However, he really fades in the second half of his bouts and tends to do a lot of grabbing to get rest breaks. Rubio needs to turn on his power in the second half of the bout, and it’s possible for him to make a big example of Chavez Jr. by taking him out.