Chavez Jr vs Martinez: Guillermo Rigondeaux Loses Undercard Spot in Court

WBA super bantamweight titlist Guillermo Rigondeaux's scheduled defense against Robert Marroquin on September 15 -- part of the Chavez Jr vs Martinez PPV undercard -- looks like it's not going to happen, as a circuit court hearing in Miami has gone in favor of manager Gary Hyde, whose contract with Rigondeaux states that he is to approve all opponents for the fighter, which was not the case in this instance.

Rigondeaux's deal with Top Rank "expired before that date (Sept. 15)," and Hyde says he's received offers from other promoters. Top Rank, he says, tried to schedule a fight without his approval and the court apparently agrees with his position.

Even if Rigondeaux vs Marroquin wasn't the best fight in the world or anything, it would be a blow to the PPV card, and would also require Top Rank to fill the slot.

Right now, the card has Chavez Jr vs Martinez in the main event, Roman Martinez vs Miguel Beltran Jr, Matthew Macklin vs Joachim Alcine, and some Mike Lee six-rounder that is meant to open the PPV, kind of a prelim bout before it gets going. Lee's in a position to sell a few tickets and hopefully bring a few more buys in from people who might not actually even care about the rest of the card, but have some weird fetish with watching a Notre Dame guy punch away at a scrub.

I suppose there's probably still a chance something is worked out where Rigondeaux vs Marroquin winds up staying on the card anyway, but for now, you have to consider it not part of the PPV undercard. If it does not keep the spot, Top Rank only has about three weeks to replace the fight with something at least somewhat attractive.

The Top Rank/HBO pay-per-view will be competing against a large-scale card on Showtime, headlined by Canelo Alvarez vs Josesito Lopez.