Marco Antonio Rubio and Gennady Golovkin set for Oct. 18 at StubHub

Gennady Golovkin/Photo by Associated Press

It so happened that yours truly was at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Oxnard on Tuesday to talk to Marcos Maidana, and ran into middleweight contender Marco Antonio Rubio. He was asked about the news that he will be challenging Gennady Golovkin for his world title on Oct. 18 at StubHub Center in Carson (on HBO).

Specifically, we asked Rubio about taking on such a powerful puncher like Golovkin, who is 30-0 with 27 knockouts. That’s a knockout ratio of 90 percent.

“He’s a very tough fighter, a very strong fighter,” said Rubio, 34, of Mexico. “It is my job to get ready and prepare for that. I have a lot of power, also.”

Rubio is 59-6-1 with 51 knockouts. He has knocked out 77.2 percent of his opponents. Rubio has twice fought for middleweight world titles. He was stopped after nine rounds by Kelly Pavlik in February 2009, and he lost a unanimous decision to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in February 2012. He is 6-0 with five knockouts since then.

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