By Jake Donovan

Marco Antonio Rubio proved to have plenty of life left in his career after scoring a seventh-round stoppage of Jorge Cota in their middleweight clash Saturday evening in Torreon, Mexico.

The bout was deceptively competitive, which is to say that Cota had his moments and allowed his presence felt but at no point ever threatened to seize control. Rubio imposed his will every minute of every round, refusing to serve as a steppingstone for the unbeaten prospect eight years his junior.

Cota began to realize in the third round that he bit off more than he can chew. Rubio went on the attack, landing a series of power shots that kept his younger foe on the defensive. Much of the fight saw Cota fight from the outside, tentatively attempting to work his way in. The 24-year old was effective whenever able to land flush.

The problem on this night was that nothing was going to stop Rubio from securing victory.

A permanent tide turner came in round five, when Rubio took the best of what Cota had to offer and kept coming forward. The sixth round saw Cota attempt lateral movement, but Rubio was masterful in cutting off the ring and cornering his opponent in the boxing equivalent of cat and mouse. A pair of left hooks left Cota shook and seemingly never recovered. 

The end came violently in the seventh round. Rubio scored the lone knockdown of the bout, though after Cota attempted to empty the vault in one last desperate stand. Rubio braved the attack and pummeled Cota for the remainder of the round until sending him crashing to the canvas.

The referee began his count but waved it off midway through, removing Cota’s gumshield to let him know his night had come to a close.

Rubio improves to 54-6-1 (47KO), renewing his winning ways which came to an end with the decision loss to Julio Cesar Chavez earlier this year.

Cota loses for the first time as a pro, falling to 12-1 (11KO).

The year had been frustrating to this point for Rubio, who not only lost a title challenge to Chavez Jr., but has been given the runaround by the WBC in an ongoing lawsuit filed on his behalf by his team. The heart of the lawsuit addresses the WBC’s failure to act on its contractual guarantee to enforce random mandatory drug testing for the aforementioned title fight this past February.

While the lawsuit is ongoing, Rubio needed to make a living. The veteran contender didn’t think twice about accepting this assignment, resulting in his third win over a previously unbeaten foe in less than 18 months. Rubio also claimed the scalps of David Lemieux and Wilson Santana.

The latter win came in his hometown of Torreon, the last time he fought at home prior to Saturday. 

TELEVISED UNDERCARD

In the co-feature, unbeaten Robert "Massa" Ortiz (25-0, 21 KOs) knocked out Abraham "Cholo" Gomez (22-4, 8 KO's) in the fifth round of a welterweight fight.

Ava Knight (9-1-3, 5KOs) won a ten round unanimous decision over Susana Vazquez (8-7-1, 3KOs) to make the second defense of her IBF flyweight championship. The scores were 99-91, 98-92 and 98-92. Both were active, but Knight landed more punches and did the better work over the distance.

In an IBF strawweight title fight, Katia "Katty" Gutierrez won a unanimous ten round decision over Susana "Panterita" Cruz. The scores were 99-90, 99-93 and 99-91.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter: @JakeNDaBox 

Tags: Marco Antonio Rubio , Roberto Ortiz