Chavez vs Rubio: Marco Antonio Rubio Asks WBC To Assign New Referee

Marco Antonio Rubio is asking the WBC to assign an international referee for his February 4 WBC middleweight title fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, according to Fightnews.com.

The assigned referee is Mexico's Guadalupe Garcia. There's no history with Garcia favoring Chavez in fights or anything like that, as he's only worked one Chavez fight in the past (a 2008 Chavez knockout of Tobia Giuseppe Loriga). This is a minor power play from Rubio's team, reflecting Rubio's feelings that the deck is no doubt stacked against him. He's said as much already, publicly stating he feels he has to knock Chavez out to get a win, and will not be able to win on the scorecards.

Rubio (53-5-1, 46 KO) is currently not as big a betting underdog as you might expect, with Chavez favored at -370 and Rubio a +310 underdog. He's just looking to make this as fair as he believes he can make it, I suspect, and doesn't want to risk having a Mexican referee potentially favor a favored Mexican son. If the WBC follows their own rules, they shouldn't have any problem with this, or with finding an international referee.