Mailbag: Rubio's lumps prepped him for Chavez Jr

Marco Antonio Rubio is one of those boxing lifers who spent most of his time toiling in anonymity, a quality fighter just not good enough to break into the big time.

Heading into the 60th fight of his nearly 12-year professional year, Rubio says one of his most heartbreaking defeats is what has prepared him to claim the World Boxing Council middleweight title when he meets champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on Feb. 4 in an HBO-televised bout from the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Rubio, 31, is 53-5-1 with 46 knockouts. More than any of those wins, however, he credits a Feb. 21, 2009, loss to Kelly Pavlik in a middleweight title fight with turning him around.

"It was a great experience fighting a guy of Kelly Pavlik's stature," Rubio said. "I learned a lot about what it takes to win at that level. I made a lot of errors in that fight, but they will be corrected."

Since that loss, Rubio has gone 10-0 with nine knockouts and has been a far more authoritative, confident-appearing fighter. Among those 10 victories was an impressive seventh-round stoppage of one of the game's elite prospects, David Lemieux, on April 8, 2011. Lemieux entered the fight with a 25-0 record and 24 knockouts and was hailed as a potential star.

Fighting a world-class veteran such as Pavlik helped Rubio enough that it was he who was doing the teaching when he fought Lemieux.

"A lot of things came together for me in that fight," Rubio said.

He professes great respect for Chavez Jr., who for most of his career had been handled with kid gloves. But Chavez won a world title in 2011 and defended it successfully against Peter Manfredo and, in the process, impressed Rubio.

Rubio isn't expecting an easy fight and praised Chavez for becoming more than just the son of a famous father.

"He's gotten to a higher level with his boxing skills than I had seen before," Rubio said of Chavez. "I give him a lot of credit for how hard he's worked and how far he has come. He deserves a lot of respect for what he has accomplished. He's the son of the great Julio Cesar Chavez and he gets a lot of attention because of the name that he has, but you can't say that he is not a better fighter. He has improved his skills a great deal."

Rubio believes he'll win because of his experience and the understanding he's gained from fighting a lot of tough guys. When he's stepped up in the past – notably, against Pavlik, Kassim Ouma and Kofi Jantuah – he's come up short.

This time around, though, Rubio is convinced they'll wrap the green belt around his waist.

"In boxing, nothing is given to you," he said. "I've had to work for everything I've gotten and I've learned along the way. I'm going to take everything I've learned and bring it with me into this fight."

• Hard to believe that in two weeks, "The Greatest," Muhammad Ali, will turn 70 years old. Here's to a healthy birthday on Jan. 17, Champ!

• Former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor scored an eighth-round stoppage of Jessie Nicklow on Friday, but it's wrong to say "he's back." Nicklow was far smaller and far less talented. Taylor hadn't fought since Oct. 17, 2009, when he was knocked out by Arthur Abraham, the third time he had been KO'd in five fights. Taylor passed all the medicals in order to fight again, but to my way of thinking, it's a very dangerous proposition and, hopefully, Taylor's management moves slowly before they put him in with A-list fighters again.

• On that same card, Andre Dirrell returned to boxing after being off since suffering a concussion March 27, 2010, after being hit with an illegal punch by Abraham. Dirrell stopped Darryl Cunningham in the second round and looked good in the process. To those who felt that Dirrell somehow was faking against Abraham, I have two words for you: Sidney Crosby.

• WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck will move to heavyweight Feb. 25 when he takes on Alexander Povetkin for the regular World Boxing Association heavyweight title. Wladimir Klitschko has the "real" WBA heavyweight belt but is now recognized by the sanctioning body as its "super" champion.

• Antonio Tarver was an outstanding boxer, but he's developing into a superstar as a television analyst. I never get tired of hearing Tarver analyze a fight.

• And then there's HBO's Roy Jones who, well, is no Tarver, in the ring or behind the mic.

• If Jose Sulaiman does the honorable thing and resigns as president of the World Boxing Council, I propose that former light heavyweight champion Eddie Mustafa Muhammad be given the job. Muhammad, now one of boxing's elite trainers, is a bright guy who is scrupulously honest and cares about the sport.

Fixing the sanctioning-body situation

Regarding the column you just published on Jose Sulaiman, what do you think can realistically be done to marginalize these ridiculous sanctioning bodies? Is there any chance that the networks (HBO, Showtime, ESPN, etc.) would take part in an effort to ditch the meaningless titles and just go with some objective rating system, perhaps voted upon by writers, managers and promoters (sort of a BCS for boxing)?

Benjamin Bettenbender
Glen Ridge, N.J.

Benjamin, the problem is the networks can act as if they don't care about the sanctioning body belts, but one promoter after another will tell you that network executives are always seeking championship bouts. The fighters themselves also like the belts, despite the manipulative ways of the WBC and the like. Until the fighters and the TV networks are as fed up with the sanctioning bodies as the rest of us, not much is going to change.

Is either Klitschko brother in danger?

Will anyone dethrone one or both Klitschko brothers in 2012?

Jason Lesage (via Twitter @JasonLesage)
New Westminster, British Columbia

I don't see it, Jason. The Klitschkos aren't given enough credit for how good they are. Yes, they're fighting in a horrible era for heavyweights, but they'd be competitive in any era. The best chance of an upset would come if Povetkin fought one of them, but I think it's highly unlikely. What is more likely is that Vitali will fight three times in 2012 and announce his retirement to start a political career.

Champions should fight all comers

How are Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. considered world champions, but they are not ready to fight all comers?

Marlon Andrews (via Twitter @MarlonAndrews)
Arlington, Va.

This is one of the byproducts of the sanctioning bodies. I have no problem with promoters and managers moving young fighters slowly, but once said young fighter wins a world title, it devalues the belt to fight anyone other than the best opponents. People at Top Rank are saying they don't believe Chavez is too far away from being ready to fight Sergio Martinez, and Alvarez is making noises like he wants elite opposition, so perhaps this is the year they step up.

Mayweather should be stripped of belt

Your comment in the article about Jose Sulaiman that Floyd Mayweather Jr. should not be stripped of his WBC championship is just another obviously biased comment by a hypocrite media. Yes, Mayweather should be stripped of his belt to follow your one-sided comment. Just remember, a robber hates another robber.

Marc Franz
Los Angeles

Mayweather is going to spend 87 days (or less) in jail after pleading guilty to a domestic violence charge. He would not have fought in that time frame anyway and there is no reason why he should be stripped, given that he just won the belt Sept. 17. He'll fulfill his debt to society and when he does, he should be able to resume his career.

It's a disgrace to mention Ward with Pacquiao or Mayweather

How can you mention Andre Ward's name in the same sentence as either Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao? He will never be the pound-for-pound best if he continues fighting the way he does. Ward is fast and accurate, but he constantly ties up (holds) and head butts. Plus, he lacks the punching power to take out legitimate opponents. He fights like an amateur and he fights scared. He throws a pitty-pat combination then holds. I think the Super Six exposed him for what he is, a second-tier fighter. The only way he will have a successful pay-per-view fight is if he fights someone like Mayweather or Pacquiao. I am a huge boxing fan. I go to many fights and if I can't go, I'm watching them on TV. And there is no way I'm paying to see this guy. If he is "Fighter of the Year," then it's been a bad year for boxing.

Rick Walton
Gambrills, Md.

First, Rick, you're mistaking pay-per-view success with in-ring ability. They're two very different things. A fighter doesn't necessarily have to be great to be a big PPV star and being a great talent doesn't guarantee PPV success. I'd like to know how the Super Six "exposed" Ward, however. He dominated Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch, and I don't think any of them would say his punches were pitty-pat blows. He's improving every time out and I think you'll be shocked by how good he is when he fights in 2012.

"I had the advantage in size over the flyweights and the bantamweights. Moving up, looking at fighting taller, heavier guys, it's really going to be a challenge." – Nonito Donaire Jr., who moves up to super bantamweight on Feb. 4 to take on Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. in San Antonio.

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