By Chris Williams: Highly respected #1 WBC middleweight challenger Marco Antonio Rubio (53-5-1, 46 KO’s) is going to have come out of the blocks a lot faster for his upcoming fight against WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (44-0-1, 31 KO’s) on February 4th than what Rubio is accustomed to doing in his fights.

Rubio, 31, simply can’t afford to come out slowly and wait until the second half of the fight to start his attack on Chavez Jr. Rubio can’t wait because he’ll take too much punishment and the chances are high that he’ll get hurt and stopped if he takes his time like he’s done in fights against David Lemieux and Kelly Pavlik.

It’s nice to be able to fight in a relaxed manner, but that won’t work for Rubio against Chavez Jr. He’s likely going to be given instructions from his trainer Freddie Roach to try and blitz Rubio early on to see if he can take him out.

Rubio was in all kinds of trouble in his bout with Lemieux last year and got hit with some enormous shots. All Rubio seemed concerned with was trying to keep from getting hit. His hand speed was slow that he couldn’t get his shots off without getting blasted by Lemieux again and again. Rubio pretty much stopped even trying to throw unless he was against the ropes where he would sneak in a weak shot in close. In the meantime, Lemieux really worked Rubio over with body and head shots.

Bob Arum has picked wisely by having Chavez Jr. fight Rubio rather than Sergio Martinez. Rubio is getting too much credit right now for having beaten Lemieux, and it’s likely that Chavez’s trainer Freddie Roach researched Rubio well and noted that the guy is incredibly slow and is like a punching bag when you attack him. Rubio just covers up and is completely wide open for right hand leads. Rubio only goes on the attack when his opponent isn’t throw many punches and is backing away. He’s perfect for Chavez Jr. or a lot of the other contenders as well.

Unless Rubio goes right after Chavez Jr. and unloads with everything he has in the first six rounds, he won’t make it to the second half of the fight. He has to earn Chavez’s respect immediately, force him to fight at a really fast pace and then turn it up a notch in the second part of the fight when Chavez Jr. often starts to gas out. If Rubio fights like that, he can win because Chavez Jr. hasn’t been really pushed by an opponent for a while because of Arums soft matchmaking.