By Jake Donovan

Super bantamweight contender Robert Marroquin has begun the search for a new opponent after his scheduled September 15 title shot against unbeaten Guillermo Rigondeaux was officially canceled  on Thursday evening.

“Unfortunately my title shot against Rigondeaux has been canceled,” Marroquin stated. “However, I'm still in the gym working hard awaiting my new opponent.”

As reported earlier in the week on Boxingscene.com, a hearing in a Dade County (FL) Circuit Court was ruled in favor of Rigondeaux’s manager Gary Hyde to block the title fight since it was made without his involvement or knowledge. The final ruling stated that Rigondeaux is disallowed to engage in any contest without the approval of Hyde, with whom he is still under contract.

Marroquin plans to remain on the September 15 card in Las Vegas, an HBO PPV show which is headlined by the lineal middleweight championship between Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Original plans called for Marroquin (22-1, 15KO) to face Rigondeaux in the evening’s chief support.

The Dallas native will most likely be relegated to the non-televised portion of the show. All that matters at this point is securing an opponent and making the necessary adjustments in training camp.

“We’ll only have 1-2 weeks to prepare for a new opponent,” Marroquin stated during an appearance on ATG Radio Wednesday evening, at which point the bout was still in limbo. “If I wind up fighting a right-handed opponent, I need to prepare for that and change the way I’m training since everything I’m doing now is for fighting a southpaw.”

Marroquin has won three straight since suffering an upset loss to Francisco Leal last summer for the lone defeat of his young career. His last ring appearance came this past June, scoring an early knockout on the non-televised undercard of Chavez Jr’s stoppage win over Andy Lee in El Paso, Texas.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter: @JakeNDaBox