By Eric Thomas: WBF super middleweight champion Marco Antonio Rubio (55-6-1, 48 KO’s) will be making his first defense of his title on Saturday night against 29-year-old Michel Rosales (32-5, 26 KO’s) at the Auditorio del Bicentenario, Morelia, Michoacan de Ocampo, Mexico.
Rosales lost his last fight by a 5th round knockout and had lost two out of his last four fights, making him an odd choice to be challenging for a world title. However, this is the World Boxing Federation 168 pound strap Rubio will be defending, and not one of the top four belts.
It’s not surprising then that Rubio would be facing a lesser guy than if he were to be challenging a title like the WBC, WBA, IBF or WBO.
Rubio, 5’10”, wasn’t big for middleweight, and you have to wonder what the logic is in him moving up to 168 to fight. He really doesn’t match up at all against the big super middleweight champions like 6’1” Andre Ward, 6’2” Carl Froch, 6’1” Mikkel Kessler.
Rubio isn’t going to do much at 168 other than hold this obscure WBF title. He needs to lose that title and move back down to middleweight, where he can at least work his way into getting another title shot at some point.
Rubio has twice fought for world titles at 160 in losing efforts against WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and WBC champ Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. In both cases, Rubio was fighting someone a lot bigger than him and a lot stronger, and he took a lot of punishment in losing.
Rubio is still good enough to give middleweight champions Peter Quillin and Daniel Geale a run for their money, but not with Sergio Martinez. He’s a little too good.
Rubio can really punch, and his defense is good and he’s a great chin. He should be able to beat Rosales without too many problems. Rubio has the power to give Rosales a beating and take him out of there fairly early. Rosales was stopped by Daniel Sandoval in his last fight in April, so I expect Rubio to be able to get Rosales out in around the same amount of time.