By Jake Donovan, photos by Pepe Rodriguez
Marco Antonio Rubio and Domenico Spada both easily made weight in advance of their interim middleweight title fight Saturday evening in Delicias, Mexico.
Rubio (58-6-1, 50KO) came in at a trim and ready 159.1 lb. for his third crack at a major title. The fight was owed to him by the WBC as per an agreement stemming from the fallout over the lack of post-fight drug testing made available following his loss to then-middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2012.
Spada (38-4, 19KO), an Italian middleweight fighting outside of Europe for the first time in his career, came in shockingly light at a career-low 157.5 lb. The bout marks his second attempt at an interim title, having dropped a competitive decision to Sebastian Zbik on the road in Germany four years ago.
All of Spada’s career losses have come on the road – three times in Germany, and a narrow points loss to Darren Barker in the United Kingdom in 2011. The 33-year old has since won six in a row.
Rubio has won five straight contests since the aforementioned loss to Chavez, including four knockouts over that stretch. The 33-year old waited out a promised shot at lineal world middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, but the Argentine spent most of 2013 on the sidelines nursing an assortment of injuries.
An agreement was reached where Rubio could vie for an interim title, allowing Martinez to pursue a lucrative June 7 showdown with former three-division champion Miguel Cotto. The winner of Saturday’s contest in Mexico will be the mandatory challenger to the June 7 World middleweight title fight, which headlines on HBO PPV.
Saturday’s middleweight affair will air live on Televisa in Mexico.
In the co-feature, Juan Jose Montes (23-4-2, 14KO) faces Edgar Monarrez (16-2, 10KO) in a scheduled 12-round regional featherweight title fight. Both fighters came in at 125 ¾ lb.
In preliminary action:
Marcos Reyes (30-1, 23KO) squares off against Idiozan Matos (32-18, 26KO) in a scheduled 10-round middleweight bout. Both fighters came in at 121 lb.
Crowd favorite Ibeth Zamora Siiva (19-5, 8KO) battles Judith Rodriguez (6-6, 4KO) in a scheduled 8-round flyweight affair. Both weighed in just over the 112 lb. flyweight limit.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com, as well as the Records Keeper for the Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and a member of Boxing Writers Association of America.
Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
