By Ryan Burton
On December 16th, Marco Antonio Rubio (53-5-1) knocked out Matt Vanda in the fifth round of their WBC Convention showcase fight that took place at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. With the victory Rubio has reeled off ten consecutive wins since suffering a knockout loss to Kelly Pavlik in 2009.
Although the fighter known as "El Veneno" has 53 professional victories, he has yet to capture a world title. More than likely Rubio will get another shot at the title when he faces WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on February 4th in San Antonio, Texas.
WBC Diamond champion Sergio Martinez and has his promoter Lou DiBella have both said that they will not step aside to allow Chavez to defend his title against anyone other than Martinez. They have said on numerous occasions that they expect the WBC to stick to their ruling which states that Chavez must face Martinez next. More than likely the WBC will allow Chavez to defend his title versus Rubio but it isn't a sure thing.
"The title is important for me. The money is secondary," Rubio explained to BoxingScene.com. "I fight for the people and I want to win the title. I know that (fighting) Martinez is 10 times more dangerous (than facing Chavez). I will fight whoever I need to fight in order to win the belt."
Rubio also spoke to BoxingScene.com about his experience helping Miguel Cotto prepare for his fight against Antonio Margarito. Cotto knocked out Margarito on December 3rd when the ringside doctor stopped the fight due to Margarito's right eye that had swollen completely shut. I asked Rubio if it was awkward helping a fighter of Puerto Rican descent prepare to face one of his countrymen. Rubio downplayed the rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico. He also spoke highly of Cotto and likened the experience to a soccer player playing on foreign team.
"It's like soccer where they are all on a team and that team may be a different country than where they are from. Of course my heart will always be Mexican. By helping Cotto I am just doing my job. I have helped Margarito out before too. I helped him get ready for (Kermit) Cintron and (Manuel) Gomez," said Rubio.
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