Golovkin vs. Rubio is an even fight, says Robert Garcia

By Boxing News - 10/16/2014 - Comments

golovkin788888By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Robert Garcia thinks his fighter WBC interim middleweight champion Marco Antonio Rubio (59-6-1, 51 KOs) has the power, experience, courage and boxing skills to pull off an upset this Saturday night against WBA Super World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KOs) in their “Mexican Style” fight card at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Garcia doesn’t even see it as a potential upset if Rubio beats Golovkin, because in his mind the fight is a 50-50 toss-up fight that can go either way. Garcia believes that Golovkin has been getting victories over opponents that have come into the fight totally afraid of him beforehand, and this he feels has enabled him to pick up easy wins.

Garcia says Rubio won’t be afraid of Golovkin on Saturday because he’s got better experience and excellent power in his own right.

“Rubio is a fighter who hits tremendously hard, and he’s ready to upset the world,” Garcia said via Fightnews.com. “Triple G is on a roll with 17 knockouts in a row, but everything comes to an end. It could be this Saturday. I expect the experience and the power to make the difference [for Rubio].”

Rubio has more knockouts [52] than Golovkin has fights in his career. However, pretty much all of Rubio’s knockouts have come against C level opposition and not A-level. In fact, Rubio has never actually beaten an A-level fighter during his 14-year pro career. Neither has Golovkin, but still it’s a lot to ask for Rubio to try and knockout a guy in the class of Golovkin when he’s never proven that he can do that.

“The last 10 Golovkin opponents came in with the mentality of losing already. That’s not in Rubio’s mind right now. I think it’s pretty even right now. A fighter who’s not afraid and who has power can change things around,” Garcia said.

It’s a stretch of the imagination to say that the Golovkin-Rubio fight is an even one. I doubt that Garcia really believes what he’s saying with that comment. He’s got to know after watching Rubio star with different middleweights that it’s not going to be a 50-50 fight against Golovkin.

Rubio has a chance of winning the fight if he can take Golovkin’s best shots for 8 or 9 rounds, and then try and drown him in the last 4 rounds. But it’s going to be difficult for Rubio to make it to the 9th round with all the heavy shots he’s going to be taking.



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