Rigondeaux vs. Marroquin mismatch set for Chavez Jr-Martinez undercard on September 15th

By Boxing News - 08/02/2012 - Comments

Image: Rigondeaux vs. Marroquin mismatch set for Chavez Jr-Martinez undercard on September 15thBy Dan Ambrose: It looks like Bob Arum was able to get WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (10-0, 8 KO’s) on board to face one of his 2nd tier Top Rank stable fighters Robert Marroquin (22-1, 15 KO’s) on the undercard of the fight between WBC middleweight champ Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Sergio Martinez on September 15th at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dan Rafael of ESPN is reporting that the Rigondeaux-Marroquin fight, if you want to call it that, is set for 9/15. I can’t say I’m excited about this fight, because I never like to see the very best fighter in any division taking on a 2nd tier prospect that’s already been exposed like Marroquin has in the past. I can see it from Arum’s point of view for sure.

Marroquin, 22, is one of his stable fighters and by having him fight the best fighter in the super bantamweight division in Rigondeaux, Marroquin’s popularity and name recognition can be increased as long as he’s not completely blown out and humiliated by Rigondeaux. He’s going to get whipped, there’s no question. The only question is how badly will Marroquin get thrashed in this one. You don’t like to see inexperienced fighters like Marroquin thrown into the deep end like this all of a sudden when they’ve been tending their own gardens against 3rd tier opposition. It can backfire because Marroquin could lose his confidence after he’s thrashed by Rigondeaux.

This match has a small chance of working for Arum if Marroquin hang in there and learn something while losing. If he can make Rigondeaux struggle to beat him, Arum can then crow afterwards how good of a fighter he has in Marroquin. But I honestly don’t see that happening. I think it’s going to be bad for Marroquin. He’s an offensive fighter and he’s going to be giving Rigondeaux countless opportunities to land his counter shots, and when that happens Marroquin is going to be tasting the canvas. I see Marroquin as a step down from Rigondeaux’s last mismatch against Teon Kennedy. Arum must have offered Rigondeaux a lot of money to take this backwards step fight because if not then Rigondeaux is wasting his time with this opponent.



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