By Dan Ambrose: WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (10-0, 8 KO’s) has the bad luck of being matched against a prospect instead of an actual contender for his next fight on September 15th against Robert Marroquin (22-1, 15 KO’s) of Top Rank at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Rigondeaux-Marroquin fight will be part of the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Sergio Martinez HBO pay-per-view fight card, except that this fight has the makings of a terrible mismatch. Marroquin, 22, is someone that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum hopes will pan out someday in the future, but by the time that does happen, the 5’8″ Marroquin will have long outgrown the super bantamweight division.

Marroquin can punch a little, but it’s hard to picture how he’ll do at featherweight, super featherweight and lightweight because he’s been less than spectacular against the journeyman that he’s been fed on since he turned pro four years ago in 2008.

You don’t like to see a fighter of Rigondeaux’s talent facing an opponent like Marroquin, who’s recent fights have come against fighters with records like 7-5, 33-20-2, 7-5, 4-4. To go from those types of 3rd tier fighters to a title challenge against what many boxing fans see as the best fighter in the super bantamweight division in 31-year-old Rigondeaux is just wrong.

Arum isn’t doing Marroquin any favors and he’s not doing Rigondeaux any favors either by matching him against someone that doesn’t have a name, doesn’t have a ranking in the top 15, and doesn’t have the talent to compete with him. At least if Arum matched Rigondeaux with some well known contenders it would help build up a possible unification fight between Rigondeaux and fellow Top Rank fighter IBF/WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire.

One of Donaire’s arguments for why he doesn’t have to fight Rigondeaux is because he doesn’t have a name. In other words, Rigondeaux isn’t getting enough visibility because of the opposition he’s facing. How is Rigondeaux going to ever get that recognition with Arum matching him up against guys like 2nd tier fighter Marroquin and Teon Kennedy? Rigondeaux needs to be fighting at least guys like Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Jorge Arce, Victor Terrazas, Fernando Montiel and Rendall Munroe.

Rigondeaux is in a situation where he almost has to completely obliterate Marroquin if he wants to get any kind of credit for this victory. If he struggles to beat Marroquin or if he looks listless in winning out of sheer boredom, Rigondeaux will lose stock. He’s got to smash this 2nd tier guy and do it quickly if he’s to keep the pressure on Donaire for a fight.