Marco Antonio Rubio?s last two losses were to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2012 and Kelly Pavlik in 2009. In between and since, he has won 16 bouts?
?I?d take James DeGale in heartbeat.??Billy Joe Sanders
?I would take great pleasure in smashing him (Chris Eubank Jr.) to pieces and shutting that big mouth up.??Sanders
Marco Antonio ?El Veneno? Rubio?s last two losses were to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2012 and Kelly Pavlik in 2009. In between and since, he has won 16 bouts, 14 inside the distance. His overall mark is 59-6-1 and with 50 KOs, he has a KO% of 77.27. Among his scalps dating back to May 2000 are J.C. Candelo, Jorge Vaca, Frankie Randall, Fitz Vanderpool, Alfredo Cuevas, Rigoberto Alvarez, Jose Luis Zertuche, David Lemieux, Matt Vanda, Carlos Baldomir, and most recently Italian Domenico ?Vulcano? Spada whom he waxed in the 10th round to win the interim WBC middleweight title.
Rubio?s win was on April 5 in Chihuahua and puts him squarely into the middleweight mix.
The RING?S ratings include Rubio as number seven in its top ten, and he is ranked eighth in the Transnational Boxing Ratings. Ahead of him are:
1. Gennady Golovkin 2. Peter Quillin 3. Felix Sturm 4. Daniel Geale 5. Martin Murray 6. Sam Soliman 7. Matthew Macklin
The RING places Curtis Stevens, Hassan N?Dam N?Jikam, and Billy Joe Sanders under him while the TBR has Andy Lee and N?Jikam below him.
Who next for El Veneno? I can see the winner of the Quillin vs. Konecny April 19 fight as a possibility. The winner of Sturm vs. Soliman on May 31 comes to mind as well. Frankly, I don?t think Curtis Steven has earned a shot but that could change down the road.
If Macklin fights Geale in May as rumored, the pickings begin to get slim for Rubio. N?Jikam fights the dreaded TBA next week. Thus cocky Billy Joe Sanders (19-0) emerges as a distinct possibility and a dangerous one at that, but he is targeting James DeGale and Chris Eubank Jr.
Danny Jacobs (27-1 with a KO% of 85.71) might fit the bill in a venue in Brooklyn.
At any rate, and with a 59-6-1 record, Marco Antonio Rubio, who is rated Number One by the WBC and WBO, deserves better. Follow us on Twitter@boxing_com to continue the discussion
