By Chris Williams: Marco Antonio Rubio (53-5-1, 46 KO’s) is the last physical barrier separating WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (44-0-1, 31 KO’s) and his promoter Bob Arum from their dream fight against WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto.

Arum reportedly plans on having Chavez Jr. fight Cotto next if Chavez Jr. can get by Rubio next month on February 4th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Chavez Jr. will bypass the WBC mandated challenger Sergio Martinez with no problem and then take on Cotto for the biggest payday of the 25-year-old Chavez’s career.

The only fighter that can stop Chavez Jr. and Arum from realizing their dream is the 31-year-old hard hitting under achieving Rubio. Chavez Jr. is favored to win this fight and it’s going to be tough on Rubio to try and find an angle. Chavez Jr., 6’0”, is bigger than the 5’10” Rubio and will likely outweigh him by 15 pounds on the night of the weight.

Rubio isn’t a big middleweight but makes up for it by having heavy hands and a nice uppercut. He’s got to press the action against Chavez because if he lets him fight on the outside, Rubio may get carved up. Chavez’s trainer Freddie Roach is going to likely tell Chavez Jr. to use his jab to keep the fight on the outside for as long as possible.

Chavez Jr. doesn’t have much in the way of discipline, so he’ll probably try and slug with Rubio if he starts getting hit hard. That’s where Rubio could have a chance in this fight. He can’t beat Chavez Jr. by boxing him, but if he can turn this fight into a war, he could take the young Chavez Jr. out and ruin Arum’s big plans for Chavez Jr.

Arum won’t put Chavez Jr. in with Cotto if he gets knocked out because no one will buy it. All of Cotto’s fights re on pay per view now, but no one will care one bit about seeing Cotto fight Chavez Jr. if he gets knocked out by Rubio. That would be a big blow to Arum if Rubio can take out Chavez Jr. and get in the way of his Cotto-Chavez Jr. plans.