By Jim Dower: Trainer Robert Garcia believes his fighter WBC interim middleweight champion Marco Antonio Rubio (59-6-1, 51 KOs) showed a lot of courage by agreeing to face what many boxing fans feel is the best fighter in the middleweight division in WBA 160 pound champion Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KOs) on October 18th at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

“Rubio could have said no. He could have defended his world title a couple of times in Mexico and remained a world champion, but we’re here to challenge ourselves,” Garcia said.

It’s true that Rubio could have sat back and waited until WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto was beaten or if he willingly gave up the title himself, but Rubio didn’t want to hang around waiting for that to happen. The chances are that the World Boxing Council wouldn’t have forced Cotto to face Rubio for a considerable amount of time.

At least by facing Golovkin, Rubio has a fight that will take place next month on October 18th rather than years from now when the WBC finally pushes Cotto to make a decision about what he’s going to with his belt other than fighting junior middleweights.

The odds aren’t good that Rubio is going to be able to get through the Golovkin fight without getting knocked out at some point in the fight. However, as long as Rubio doesn’t get blasted out too badly in this fight, he shouldn’t lose a lot of clout in the division.

Rubio can still come back from the loss to go after IBF champion Sam Soliman or WBO champion Peter Quillin in the near future. It’ll take Rubio a little while for him to get a title shot against one of them, but he should get a shot sooner or later.

Garcia is a clever trainer with a lot of tricks up his sleeves for his fighters. I’m not sure some of the tactics that his other fighters Brandon Rios and Marcos Maidana will work against Golovkin. For example, having Rubio stick his head into the face of Golovkin when he attempts to clinch won’t work because Golovkin doesn’t clinch.

If Garcia tells Rubio to pressure Golovkin, it’s going to lead to Rubio likely getting knocked out in within 3 rounds. Rubio doesn’t have the chin to be going straight into the teeth of Golovkin’s offense. Garcia needs to try and come up with a strategy for Rubio to try and box Golovkin instead of slugging with him, because if he tries to punch with him, he’s going to get knocked out quick.