This has been covered. Years ago and draining to make JMW. Dehydrating lowers the level of cerebral fluid. It takes DAYS to properly rehydrate. Not saying it can't happen again, but this doesn't make the guy a bum.
Of course! Fighters are confident often to the point of delusion. A single drop of self doubt can make a huge difference in a fight. If Rubio doesn't have confidence against Pavlik, then he has nothing at all.
Rubio has made several "I'm gonna KO him" type statements. In my opinion Marco is doing a few of things with these statements: 1) He is selling the fight. He's a full blooded Mexican Warrior. He wants to be part of the excitement, and he wants to put on a great show. 2) He is psyching himself up. He knows just as well as every honest fan and every honest fighter that he will not be facing the sick, injured, 170 pound KP that BHop faced. He knows full well that he will be facing the same monster that ran right the **** over Zertuche, Miranda, and Taylor in 8 months time. Psyching himself up is a coping mechanism. 3) He is telling us what is fight plan really is. He is going to try to knock Kelly out. What other plan could he possibly have? Is he going to out box Pavlik? McKart couldn't do that in '06, and Taylor couldn't do it in '08. Rubio ain't no Bhop, and he ain't no JT. He is approximately on the same level with an '06 version of McKart or an '07 version of Zertuche. Rubio has two chances to knock Pavlik out: slim and none. The bad news for Marco is that I talked to Slim, and he ain't coming to the fight. Rubio's KO percentage is deceptive. He stopped Cuevas, but so did John Duddy, and Kassim Ouma. Rubio stopped Zertuche, but in my opinion two wars with Zuniga and a beating from Pavlik ruined Zertuche. (Sidebar; what the **** would it feel like to have Zuniga and KP beating on your head for a total of 28 rounds?) Bronco McKart was never known as a puncher. He does have 31 KO wins, but at 160 he has never even stopped anyone. Bronco knocked Ornales down TWICE. I don't think Rubio even came close. So on the one hand Rubio can crack, but he is nowhere near as dangerous as Zuniga or Miranda. On the other hand KP took Zuniga's best shots, Miranda's best shots, Taylor's best shots X 2, and Bernard Hopkins used his head for a speed bag about 2 dozen times, but no one has ever stopped him. Marco Antonio Rubio will not knock Kelly Pavlik out. The best that Rubio can hope for is to put on a great show. If he can do that, we'll see a lot more of him in the future, and in my opinion that would be a good thing.
Well, media day Rubio looked like he was just going through the motions. Most guys generally try and show at least a little something of their abilities. But then again, I'm not to sure he looked all that much different than his last fight. :huh
Rubio is way too similar to Zertuche for me to see the result of this fight being any different from the results of that fight.
That KO by Jantuah still stays fresh in my mind. To go from that to beating a top hard punching middleweight is a stretch. To go from that to lasting 6 rounds, even.
30 seconds, and bang! fight over, but ya gotta cut Rubio some slack. that was 4 years and 18 fights ago.
I dunno man. I watched him against Zaurbek Baysangurov (yeah, the guy that got owned by Bundrage recently) and he was awful in that fight. Like...really bad. He got schooled completely by the Russian after knocking him down in round 1. Even if we say he's improved a little, the fact he's fighting Pavlik is going to override that. He has no speed or slickness that is going to trouble Pavlik defensively. If he tries something he'll get pummeled. If he doesn't try something he will get broken down and pummeled a couple rounds later. I don't envisage much more than Lockett. Pavlik is going to want to prove a point and Rubio will oblige.